| Summary: | Despite the great technological progress that has aided taxonomical identification, taxonomical issues remain for certain species found in remote and/or understudied geographical areas. The damselfly species <i>Ischnura aurora</i> has been the subject of a long-standing taxonomical debate, focused mainly on the existence of morphological and behavioural differences between Asian and Australo-Pacific forms of this species that could justify their placement into two different species. Here, we carried out a comparative morphological analysis of specimens currently identified as <i>I. rubilio</i> from India and <i>I. aurora</i> from Asia and Oceania, combined with the analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data, both developed by us and available in public repositories. Our results split the Asian and Australo-Pacific forms of <i>I. aurora</i> into two well-differentiated taxonomic units and, hence, different (albeit closely related) species, and support the specific status of <i>I. rubilio</i>. The results of our genetic analyses suggest the existence of a third (and even fourth) taxonomic unit, stressing the need to revise all available material belonging to the different <i>I. aurora</i> subspecies that have been described. Finally, we have identified several questionable DNA sequences currently available in public repositories, upon which previous conclusions about the phylogenetic position of <i>I. rubilio</i> are based. Our study stresses the importance of being able to link available DNA sequence data with voucher specimens as well as to carry out a careful examination of DNA sequence data prior to their inclusion in taxonomical studies.
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