Hybride’s name for Cordulegaster

Hybride’s name for Cordulegaster

We do have two hybrid taxa to consider: Cordulegaster x kastalia Lohmann, 1993 [= Cordulegaster bidentata x C. buchholzi] and Cordulegaster x montandoni St. Quentin, 1971 [= Cordulegaster bidentata x C.insignis]. Normally my writing should be correct. The situation is less clear for montandoni, because the authors consider finding “pure” montandoni, but I doubt that this is realistic.  Since we have been chasing montandoni for a long time we would already know more. For the time being and in the absence of evidence to the contrary montandoni must be considered a hybrid taxon.

An hybrid is neither a synonym of one species nor of the other: it is an autonomous taxon from the point of view of designation. It can have a name as here, or be designated by the hybrid couple (I have made in brackets, the second presentation).

It seems that Cordulegaster buchholzi is a stabilized hybrid (genetically autonomous) of C.helladica and C.insignis. This information is said to be in the works in Froufe & al. (2014), which I therefore need to re-read. A stabilized hybrid is still a good species. This is the case for many ferns (Pteridophyta) for example. We have in Europe the Cisalpine Sparrow (Passer italiae) which is also in this case in the Birds. We treat these taxa as species, although we know that genetically they accumulate a hybrid genome, sometimes by half, sometimes according to two genomes in parallel, sometimes according to more complex ploidy.

If the notion of hybrid is known for a long time in odonatology, in my opinion, hybrid taxonyms had not been introduced until now. I think that the two hybrid taxa needs to be added to the WOL. It has been known for a long time as far as Cordulegaster is concerned. We have for example in France in the Alps hybrids of Cordulegaster boltonii with C. bidentata.

Cyrille Deliry – April 11th, 2022

Schneider T. & al. 2022 – The Oracle of Delphi – a molecular phylogenetic approach to Greek Cordulegaster Leach in Brewster, 1815 (Odonata: Anisoptera: Cordulegastridae). – Zootaxa, 5125 (2) : 182-204.

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