Regal Darner

Coryphaeschna ingens (Rambur) 213
III. Relationships of the Neotropical Aeshnas to the North American
Fossils 216
IV. Relations of the South American Aeshnas to Palaearctic and

Coryphaeschna ingens Table 13; PI. XIX; Map 7
1842. Aeschna ingens Rambur. Ins. Nevr. 192 (" Collection de M. Serville, sans indication de patrie"). 1
1861. Aeschna ingens Hagen, Synop. Neur. N. Amer. 128. 2
1875. Aeschna ingens Hagen, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 18: 36 3
1886. Aeschna ingens Gundlach, Neur. Cuba 239 ("vencindad de Cardenas "). 4
1903. Coryphaeschna ingens E. B. Williamson, Ent. News 14 (1): 8, pi. II, fig. 2 (venation $). 5
1903. Coryphaeschna ingens Calvert, Ent. News 14 (1): 8. 6
1903. Aeschna ingens Needham, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 26, pi. xl, fig. 2 (venation S). 7
1904. Aeschna ingens H. Butler, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 30: 121, pi. vii, fig. 4a (labium). 8
1906. Coryphaeschna ingens Brimley, Ent. News 17: 84 (N. Car.). 9
1908. Aeschna ingens Martin, Colls. Zool. Selys-Longch. fasc. XVIII: 77, fig. 76 (apps. S). 10
1909. Aeshna ingens Calvert, Ann. Cam. Mus. Pittsb. 6: 222 (Bahamas). 11 1913. Coryphaeschna ingens Cockerell, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 45 (2000) : 580
(venation). 12 1919. Coryphaeschna ingens Kennedy, Ent. News 30 (4) : 105, figs. 1-3
(naiad). 13 1919. Aeschna ingens Calvert, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 45 : 358. 14
1923. Corypliaeschna ingens Navas, Arxius Inst. Cien. Barcelona 7: 181 (" Gulfport, Florida, sept, de 1916, Reynolds."). 15
1924. Coryphaeschna ingens Navas, Revista R. Acad. Cien. Exact. Fis. Nat. Madrid 21: 324 (Santiago de las Vegas (Cuba, by F. Z. Cervera) 2 de Agosta de 1923 "). 16
1925. Coryphaeschna ingens Brimley, Ent. News 36 (2) : 85 (nymph). 17
1929. Coryphaeschna ingens Needham & Heywood, Handbk. Drgfls. N. Amer. 1930. Coryphaeschna ingens Byers, Univ. Fla. Publ. Biol. Sci. Ser. 1 (1) : 12, 70, 253, 300, fig. 10 (nymph). 19
1940. Coryphaeschna ingens Montgomery, Jl. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 56
(2): 290 (So. Car.). 2 <> 1955. Coryphaeschna ingens Needham & Westfall, Manual Drgfls. N. Amer.,
Univ. Calif. Berkeley & Los Angeles p. 280. 21 1863. Aeschna Abboti Hagen, Stett. Zeit. Ent. 34: 373. no. 55, 374. 22 1874. Aeschna Abboti Hagen, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 16: 350. 23
Material studied. — Florida : within 3 miles of Gulf Hammock post office, March, 1929, 1 9 and Gunntown, April 1-8, 1923, 1 S, 2 9, both in Levy County, by Philip Laurent, Coronado, Volusia Co., 1915, Dr. D. M. Castle 15 6 9 ANSP.; Gotha, Orange Co., April 24 1 $, 1 9, 6/15 1 $, 7/22 2 $, no date 1 $, Johnson Island, Osceola Co., March 17 and 20 all 1897 by A(dolph) H(empel) 3 $ 1 5 ex coll. C. C. Adams; Lake Placid, Archbold Biol. Sta., 20 March, 1945, J. G. Needham 1 $ ; Lake Okeechobee, Heilprin Exped. ANSP 1886 1 $ ; Palmdale, DeSoto Co., April 5 1 S , 1 2 and Fort Myers, Lee Co., March 10 and 19 3 $ , 1 2 by J. H. Williamson 1921 ; Miami, Dade Co., III. 16 1915, Morgan Hebard 1 $ ; Royal Palm State Park, Feb. 28, 1927, Frank M. Jones 1 $ , 1 2. Cuba: Soledad (Santa Clara Province), 30.iv. 1 2 apps. lost, coll. Needham ; except the specimens in Prof. Needham's collection, and 1 $ from Fort Myers in Mr. Cowley's collection, the above material is in the collection of the ANSP. Total 18 8, 15 2.
Distribution. — Williamston, 17 North Carolina, to Cuba. 2 Martin 10 adds Chiriqui. Latitude 35° 50' to 8° North, Longitude 74° to 85° West.
Seasonal Range. — April 14 to August 20 in Florida 21 February 12, " the wet season occurs in Florida from June to September or October." 19
Altitudinal Range. — Sea-level to not more than 375 feet (114 m.). It lies in the humid division ( Austroriparian Fauna) of the Lower Austral part of the Austral Region and in the Tropical Region of Merriam et al. as shown by J. R. Carpenter, Ecological Glossary, Appendix VI, University of Oklahoma, Norman, 1938, and in Austroriparian Faunal Division of the Lower Austral Life Zone and in the Tropical Life Zone of Muesebeck & Krombein, Syst. Zool. I ( 1 ) : 25-26, 1952.
S . As a number of fairly full descriptions of this species 1 4 ~ G 19 exist, the present account is limited to some features not, or but briefly, described in them. Pale green spots on abdominal segment 2: no AD or MD, but a green dorsal spot anterior to the submedian transverse carina united ventrally with AL; AL + ML + PL + PD confluent.
Auricles of 2 with four denticles on the hind margin, the lateralmost shortest. Spines of the anterior lamina pale brown, blackish at apex which reaches caudad not as far as the level of the apex of the hamular processes. Hamular processes brown, anterior part with mesal margin parallel with that of the fellow of the opposite side, its antero-mesal angle very acute. Hind end of the sheath of the penis roundly and broadly truncate. Glans penis biblobed posteriorly, with a terminal median piece which is shorter than the rest of the glans (figs. 249, 252-254, pi. XIX). Anterior end of the vesicle of the penis in ventral view broadly and roundly truncate, wider than the sheath of the penis. Genital lobe barely produced ventrad beyond the rest of the ventral margin of abdominal segment 2, with about 10 black denticles.
5 . Pale spots on abdominal segment 2 not different from those of the male.
Dimensions. — Total length $ 90, 2 100 mm., abdomen (excl. apps.) $ 60, 2 66-68, sup. apps. $ 6.30-7.00, 2 12.5-13, hind wing $ 55-58, 2 57-60, pterostigma, front wing, costal edge $ 4.83-5.48, 2 5.07-5.56 mm. Front wings with 18-22 antenodals, 9-12 postnodals, hind wings with 14-16 antenodals, 11-14 postnodals.
Ecology. — Without repeating here the many data on both imago and nymph given by Byers X9 pages 253-255, we add the note by Hebard on the envelope of the Miami male, " pine woods ".

Coryphaeschna ingens (Rambur) PI. XL, fig. 536, PI. XLV, figs. 589, 590, 598 ; Map 7.
1919. Coryphaeschna ingens Kennedy, Ent. News 30 (4) : 106, figs. 1-3 (entire 8 larva, apex of S abd., rear of head & prothorax). 1
1925. Coryphaeschna ingens Brimley, Ent. News 36 (3) : 85. 2
1930. Coryphaeschna ingens Byers, Univ. Florida Publ. Biol. Sci. Series 1 (1) : 253, 254, fig. 10 (habitat sketch), PI. VI, fig. 105 (landscape showing marsh-pond conditions). 3
1955. Coryphaeschna ingens Needham & Westfall, Manual Drgfls. N. Amer. : 280, 279, fig. 169 (entire larva). 4
Material studied. — North Carolina : Carteret Lodge Pond, Beaufort, June 20, 1934, A. S. Pearse, 1 2 exuvia (damaged). Florida: Monticello, Aucilla River, 10.4.1931, 1 2 larva, Miccocukee Lake, 1.17.31, 1 2 larva, in Jefferson County; Half Moon Lake. 2.9.39. 12+1 other larva, Newman's Lake, 11.22. 1928, 1 S larva, Gainesville, IV. 1930, 2 2 larvae, in Alachua County, Jan. 10,
1931, 15,12 larvae, 4.1928, 1 S exuvia, May, 1938, 1 2 exuvia, Bivan's arm of Paynes Prairie, 4.4.1930, 1 2 larva, in Alachua County, cypress swamp in Monroe County 1 8 larva, all by C. F. Byers, in coll. Byers except 1 6 larva given to P. P. C. Total 3 ult exuviae ( 1 S , 2 2 ) , 3 6 , 7 2 + 1 other larva = 14.
Changes in size among these larvae and exuviae are as follows : Total length 6 42-57, 9 30.5-56, undifferentiated 22 mm. ; maximum length of head 8 5.738.50, 9 5.65-8.48, und. 3.68; maximum width of head S 7.20-9.15, 9 5.81-9.15, und. 3.88 ; hind dorsal margin of head $ 6.63-6.79, 9 7.20-7.28, more or less concave, depth of concavity at the mid-dorsal line S .57-. 82, 9 .49-.90 ; antennal segments 7; mentum length 8 11.-14., 9 8.18-14.40, und. 4.91; basal width $ 2.36-2.45, 9 1.72-2.83, und. 1.23, width at mid-length $ 2.37-2.64, 9 1.80-2.83, und. 1.27, distal width $ 4.91-6.79, 9 3.85-6.22, und. 2.46; sides of mentum subparallel or slightly convergent in the basal half, thence diverging rapidly to, or almost to, the apex, in the latter case subparallel in their extreme end; distal margin with two acute spines, each .33-.66 mm. long, one on each side of the open ligular cleft ; labium at rest reaching to, or nearly to, the level of the hind margin of the third coxae ; labial palps with the fixed hook tapering from its base to its acute apex, being 1.22-1.41 mm. long on its concave posterior margin, the tapering beginning at the level of the distal mental spine of the same side; in older larvae the fixed hook is obliquely truncated (figs. 590, 598, PI. XLV) at apex, its posterior mesal angle prolonged into a very acute spine ; in the undifferentiated larva it is truncated at apex almost at 90° (fig. 589), its posterior mesal angle produced into an acute spine about Y as long as the width of the fixed hook exclusive of the spine. Movable hook of the labial palps, 3.30-3.77 mm. long on its posterior concave margin, reaching almost to the lateral edge of the base of palp of the opposite side : pronotum, maximum width 3.76-6.51, a lateral process each side .25-.49 long, propleural supracoxal processes: anterior .02 x .19 mm. — .20 x .49 mm., posterior .05 x .19 — .33 x .76 mm., apices of both processes approximating 90°, that of the anterior less rounded in most cases than that of the posterior, interval between them 90°-120°, but in the smallest larva ca. 140° ; mesopleural supracoxal processes represented by a longitudinal sub-horizontal carina with a shallow notch above the middle of the second coxa corresponding to the interval between the two propleural processes, immediately behind this notch an angular projection whose apex is 70°-130° and whose length is .09-. 19 mm.; metapleural supracoxal processes similar to, but less marked than, those of the mesopleura. Hind wing-pads reaching to the hind margin of the metanotum (smallest larva) hind margin of abd. seg. 4, their front margin .98-12.85 mm. long, wing-rudiments within the hind wing pads subequal thereto, smooth, i.e., not crumpled, tarsal segments 3-3-3. Abdomen, maximum width 3.72-9.72 mm., gonapophyses $ .38-.66, 9 .49-2.95, not reaching to the apex of 9, lateral spines on segs. 6-9, shortest (.08-.94 mm.) on 6; anal apps. : mid-dorsal <5 4.00-5.65, 9 3.27-5.97, undifferentiated 1.80, its apex .47-.57 mm. wide, squarely truncated, often with a minute tooth at each lateral angle, exceeding the apices of the lateral apps. by .08-. 57 mm. (at the level of those apps. in undif. larva) $ part 1.39-1.98 mm. long, basal width jr-1.60 mm., lateral apps. $ 4.25-6.22, 9 3.19-6.55, undif. 2.00, inferiors $ 4.75-6.71, 9 3.85-6.95, undif. 2.13. Ratio of length of middorsal app. to length of inferior apps. 8 .842, 5 .846-.8S9, undif. .845. Ratio of length of $ part of mid-dorsal app. to length of lateral apps. .3 18-. 327.
Colors of alcoholic specimens as per Plate IV of Smith's Glossary : in most pale clay yellow, in fewer pale cadmium yellow ; head with two reddish brown lines on each side of the dorsum parallel to the eye-margins, or these lines represented by faint markings but with a brown ochre or blackish spot, .16 mm. in diameter, at or near the level of the hind end of each eye and J3-.82 mm. mesad thereof ; in lateral view the head has a dark brown, or brown ochre, or vandyke brown, longitudinal stripe through the eye; behind the eye this stripe is .25-.65 mm. wide and in some is continued on to the thoracic pleura and the abdomen ; that portion of this stripe on the head behind the eye is in some composed of alternate pale and dark, oblique, parallel lines, as if corresponding to internal muscle fibers; abdomen with a mid-dorsal, or two paramedian, longitudinal pale brown stripes on segments 1-10 (as continuations, in some, of dorsal thoracic stripes), discrete on 1-5, coalescent on 6 or more posteriorly; the mid-dorsal stripe (or two paramedians together) measure 1.00-2.36 mm. wide on 5 and 6 and are narrower both anteriorly and posteriorly; one $ larva shows a mid-dorsal blackish hairline on 3-7, interrupted at the bases of 4-7 by an oblong yellowish spot 4x3 mm.; in another larva (the undifferentiated) the mid-dorsal line is clay yellow ; hindmost seventh to fourth of most of the segments paler than the rest of each segment, even greenish, and has longitudinal brown or blackish lines or stripes each side of the mid-dorsal stripe (or paramedian stripes) ; a lateral longitudinal brown ochre stripe on 1or 2-8 or -9 or -10 .71-3.30 mm. wide on 4, narrower, or of subuniform width, on the others ; dorsal puncta not distinct in the majority of specimens studied, present on 5-8 or 5-7 but small ; dorso-lateral puncta not found in the majority or present on 5-9, 5-8, or 6-8 as minute black dots ; lateral puncta absent from some, or present on one or more of segments 3-10; in two they are elongated, in others dots ; the lateral scars are confused with the lateral stripes in one larva, they have not been distinguished in the others but are distinct on segs. 2-8 of two exuviae.

Coryphaeschna ingens
Remarks on the preceding key. — Two methods of primarily distinguishing the larvae and exuviae of the genus Aeshna from those of Coryphaeschna exist. The first of these was that of Wright and Petersen (1944, p. 154, rubric 3) : " Distal border of mentum with a pair of sharp parallel spines one on each side of the mental cleft PI. 3 O, Coryphaeschna " , and " Distal border of mentum not so armed PI. 3 P Aeschna". By this method strictly applied Aeshna (Hesperaeschna) psilus, our figs. 545, 552, pi. XLI, Coryphaeschna adnexa, our figs. 588, 594-596, pi. XLV, the exuvia from Porto Velho, Brazil, our figs. 600, 601, pi. XLV, and perrensi? our figs. 602, pi. XLV, would fall in Aeshna, ingens and viriditas, our figs. 599 and 598, pi. XLV, would fall in Coryphaeschna. The imago of psilus, however, is of the genus Aeshna while the imagos of adnexa, perrensi, ingens and viriditas are Coryphaeschnas. (See our key to imagos antea, pp. 915). The generic allocations reached by imagos and larvae therefore do not agree.
The second method of primarily distinguishing the larvae and exuviae of Aeshna from those of Coryphaeschna is that of Needham and Westfall (Manual Drgfls. N. Amer. 1955, pp. 253-255:) "Hind angles of head angulate . . . Coryphaeschna" and "Hind angles of head rounded or in Aeschna eremita sometimes slightly angulate . . . Acschna ". This last quotation shows that Needham and Westfall recognized that a hard and fast distinction between Coryphaeschna and Aeshna can not be based on the shape of the hind part of the head.
We meet this difficulty in endeavoring to classify our present material. Our figures on plate XLV were placed there on a modified form of Wright and Petersen's rubric, viz., Distal border of mentum with a pair of processes, one on each side of the mental cleft, which resulted in placing the 2 exuvia from Porto Velho as a Coryphaeschna on this plate as figs. 600 and 601. When applying the shape of the hind part of the head as the primary character, this exuvia qualifies better as an Aeshna than as a Coryphaeschna and we must confess to the difficulty of drawing a dividing line. Still another feature presents itself: the shape of the proximal segment of the labial palp is similar in ingens and viriditas (our figs. 598 and 599, pi. XLV) both Coryphaeschna, and different, though similar to each other, in psihis (our figs. 541, 545, pi. XLI), diffinis (figs. 555, 559, pi. XLII), both of the genus Aeshna, and adnexa (fig. 588, pi. XLV) a Coryphaeschna.
In further discussion of the shape of the hind angles of the head, it may be remarked that the difference in the angulation between the psilus exuvia from Juan Vifias of May 4, 1910, No. 2, and that of C. luteipennis florida from Cartago of Feb. 23, 1910, is very slight; the hind edge of the head of the florida exuvia is more concave. The difference between the same psilns exuvia and the exuvia of luteipennis florida from Rio de las Canas of Jan. 20, 1910, is distinct, the hind margin of the head of the latter being much more angulate, its dorsal (superior) appendage is 1.5 mm. long, its lateral appendages 2.17 mm., its inferiors 2.60 mm. ; all five appendages reach to nearly the same transverse line but their bases are not in the same transverse line. 194 neotropical species of the " subgenus aeschna"
Descriptions of the Larvae by Species

Coryphaeschna ingens, the regal darner, is a species of darner in the dragonfly family Aeshnidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea and North America.

The IUCN conservation status of Coryphaeschna ingens is "LC", least concern, with no immediate threat to the species' survival. The population is stable. The IUCN status was reviewed in 2017.