Research about the behavior of Neotropical species is crucial to understand how the rapid environmental changes in the Neotropics affect the reproduction of various organisms. The reproductive behavior of insects in tropical ecosystems, such as those belonging to the order Odonata, is as yet scarcely known. In this article, the reproductive behavior of Erythrodiplax abjecta is described from several localities in the Colombian Andean Mountains.
Polymorphism in coenagrionids is widely known, mainly for Ischnura. Here, we present the case of I. capreolus, a Neotropical species of which, until now, little information concerning color polymorphism and ontogenetic color changes was known. We used a marking and recapture method to evidence ontogenetic coloration changes in females. We show that, in addition to…
Behavioral data on Neotropical coenagrionids is still scanty, with very few studies on their reproductive behavior. Here we present the first description of the reproductive behavior of A. truncatum in a high density population in the Brazilian Neotropical savanna. The observations were made at a pond in an ecological reserve. Males remain at the water…
Our understanding of mating systems is highly skewed toward temperate examples. This study investigated the mating system, sexual size dimorphism and seasonal variation in local distribution and abundance of male and female Telebasis carmesina, a common damselfly in Brazilian tropical savanna. In a natural reserve, daily census and behavioral observations were made throughout 1 year…
In odonates, female specific color polymorphisms appear to be an evolutionary response to sexual harassment, but we know little about the decision rules males use when searching for variable females. For two sympatric species of Enallagma, we measured male responses to live female variants under field conditions, early and later in the day. In the…
The behavior of Mesamphiagrion laterale (Selys, 1876) is described based upon 2430 hours of observation. A total of 2820 individuals were observed for 270 days from 2014 to 2015 using mark-recapture. Probabilities of resight, highest reproductive activity, time-perch and time of perch-temperature were statistically analyzed. Mesamphiagrion laterale is not a territorial species, the individuals perch…
The status of the Odonata as a model taxon for studying the evolution and diversity of reproductive behaviours is shown here to have declined relative to crickets and Drosophila. Very few available data on ejaculate size, the number of sperm stored by females and the duration of sperm storage reveal poor knowledge of these areas…