Telosticta santubong is one of the four Telosticta species we encountered in Sarawak; there are (at least) ten others! It is a genus comprising 17 members, all endemic to Borneo and Palawan.
They all have a dark thorax and abdomen decorated with a more or less long colored antehumeral stripe and one or two colored terminal segments. They can be identified using these elements.
"Fortunately," only six are known from western Sarawak, in the region we surveyed. And only three decorate their thorax with a very short blue antehumeral stripe: our Telosticta santubong, T. serapi, and T. dupophila. However, T. santubong is the only one (of these individuals with a very short antehumeral spot) whose blue coloration is limited to the ninth segment.
Dow and Orr (2012) illustrated these details in the photo plates below.
The shape of this marking on S9 is undoubtedly variable, as the subjects (2!) we observed bore a curious pattern instead of a complete spot. Furthermore, the previously cited authors write: "The blue marking on S9 is often reduced compared to the holotype, and in one paratype it is almost circular."
The abdomen of Telosticta santubong measures 35 to 37.5 mm without the anal appendages and must reach almost 45 mm in total length. It frequents steep forest streams (100 to 400 m in altitude), and we encountered it in the company of Prodasineura notostigma in the rain...
Its distribution is extremely restricted, as 20 years after its discovery, it is still only known from the eponymous mountain on the Damai Peninsula, Mount Santubong and its national park.
IUCN Red List.
Etymology of Telosticta santubong (1)
Telosticta is a feminine noun, composed of the Greek telos, meaning "toll," from the name of Jan van Tol, whose surname comes from the Dutch word of the same meaning, in tribute to his contributions to our knowledge of Platystictidae, and the suffix -sticta, a common generic ending in the family [Platystictidae].
Sticta comes from the Greek stiktos, which means "spotted" or "tattooed", and refers to the South Asian genus Platysticta, whose wingtips bear a dark spot. Santubong, as already mentioned, refers to the type locality of the holotype, Gunung Santubong, in the National Park of the same name.
1- Dow & Orr, 2012 – Telosticta, a new damselfly genus from Borneo and Palawan (Odonata: Zygoptera: Platystictidae) – The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 60(2):365-401.