Habitat loss and fragmentation induce a decline and endangerment of freshwater organisms such as Aeshna viridis, an endangered dragonfly species characterised by a specific insect–plant association to the macrophyte Stratiotes aloides. In order to implement conservation measures, a good level of knowledge about the occurrence, habitat requirements and quality, as well as patch size of…
Status and records of Aeshna meruensis are published for the first time. This species has been confused with A. rileyi for a long time, although A.R. Waterston separated and labelled specimens of both species in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London, as early as 1974. A. meruensis is known from seven localities in…
Aeshna (Hesperaeschna) condor sp. nov. is described and illustrated from four males and six exuviae. The adult color pattern does not resemble that of any other Venezuelan species, but structurally the new species comes closest to A. (H.) punctata and A. (H.) joannisi. This latter is here recorded for the first time from Venezuela, and…
The hatching phenology of 15 Odonata species was studied under seminatural conditions to find out how the hatching modes of typical species of summer dry temporary waters (vernal ponds) differ from those of species inhabiting both permanent and temporary waters. We attempt to answer the following questions. (1) Do vernal pond species hatch earlier in…
By means of slow-motion film analysis we found new female refusal behaviour patterns against male harassment in a variety of Odonata species. Often, females could escape simply by flying faster than males. Due to the morphological preconditions, there were differences in the two suborders. In Anisoptera, several behavioural specialities were analysed: (a) females of Aeshna…
At a ditch near Tribsees in northeastern Germany a young individual of the freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis was photographed while attached to the dorsum of the abdomen of a female Aeshna viridis, after the odonate took off after oviposition in Stratiotes aloides. This is the first known case for odonate-born dispersal of freshwater gastropods.
The East Palaearctic Coenagrion glaciale and C. hylas are characterized by a current disjunct distribution. New data from northern European Russia significantly modify the earlier known pattern of their distribution. The first European records of C. glaciale and a new record of C. hylas west of the Urals are reported from the environs of Pinega…
The behaviour of Anisoptera during the period between emergence and the onset of sexual activity is poorly known, mainly because freshly emerged adults are hard to follow. In the present study the system RECCO® Transmitter/Receiver and custombuilt tags made from Schottky diodes and copper wire were used to monitor freshly emerged Anisoptera. The system had…
This revision of the subgenus Marmaraeschna includes the description of three new species: Aeshna (M.) fissifrons, A. (M.) obscura and A. (M.) brevicercia, as well as redescriptions of the previously known species, including the first description of the male of A. (M.) pallipes, a key for males and females and an updated distribution for each…
Predation of aggregated, ovipositing tandems of Sympetrum sanguineum and S. vulgatum by the hornet Vespa crabro was observed in Belarus. The same species of hornet was seen killing territorial males and copulating females of Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis in Italy. Numerous remains of these odonates at the oviposition sites suggest that attacks occur frequently. A short review…