Commented checklist of the Odonata from Colombia

Abstract

Colombian odonatological history was scarce until two decades ago. Here, we present an updated, thoroughly vetted, and refined checklist of taxonomic and geographical records of Colombian odonates, built upon the previous publication in 2011. To achieve this, we conducted an extensive literature review, and curated the most representative biological collections of odonates in the country. Our goal was to integrate new records and recently described species, while excluding misidentifications or doubtful identifications due to a lack of support from taxonomic revisions and specimens in collections. We report a total of 536 species, reflecting a 38% increase in odonate richness since the last published checklist in 2011. This number positions Colombia among the top ten countries with the highest number of odonates worldwide. We include important taxonomic details for each species in the checklist, the availability of female and/or larva description(s), and the IUCN species assessment. We also highlight rare or puzzling species, which records for the country are controversial. It is noteworthy that the majority of these contributions stem from local Colombian research efforts that have enriched our national reference collections, including ANDES-E, CEUA, and UARC. Geographically, the department with the highest diversity is Meta with 205 species followed by Antioquia with 170 species. The latter holds the highest number of endemics across the country. We anticipate that this effort will be the basis and inspiration to future research on Colombian odonatofauna, especially in underexplored areas, and will encourage conservation initiatives for freshwater ecosystems across the country.