The determination of seasonal regulation is important to understand how species have adapted to their local environmental conditions. In this study, we investigate the life history of a North African endemic damselfly, Platycnemis subdilatata, in a northeast Algerian population. We combined field and laboratory investigations to assess the embryonic development, larval growth, emergence pattern and…
The estimation of lifetime egg production (LEP) is a central question in ecology, since the number of eggs produced determines the potential size of the following generation. In this study, I tried to obtain a rough estimation of the LEPs in libellulids in outdoor cages. The main questions were: (1) does hand feeding influence females’…
All female Odonata have been assumed to produce oocytes continuously during their mature life span. However, a recent study of ovariole orientation and development led to the suggestion that Libellulidae are divided into two groups of species, one with continuous, the other with stepwise oocyte production. To find more evidence of this division, we compared…
Food intake rate and diet composition have a high impact on all organisms and affect individual fitness, fecundity and mortality. Specimens in enclosures have to be fed in an adequate way and with minimum stress for the specimens. Adult dragonflies are flying hunters. In enclosures, they are usually fed by adding different kinds of adult…
The mark-and-recapture method was used to study the population dynamics of the endangered brackish water species, Mortonagrion hirosei, in a small reed community of an estuary in the warm-temperate zone of Japan. The flying season was from late May to early August. The age structure showed that newly emerged adults always stayed in the reed…
Larvae were reared at 21.5°C from eggs from southernmost Sweden, and fed ad libitum to emergence in four different photoperiodic treatments, intended to represent increasing levels of time stress: constant LD 16:8, corresponding to late April (or August) conditions, a shift after about two weeks from LD 16:8 to 19.5:4.5, coarsely simulating late spring, constant…
Clutch size is an important fitness component often quantified artificially by inducing oviposition in libellulid females. Female behavior and egg production of the yellow-veined skimmer, Orthetrum nitidinerve, were studied in northeast Algeria during its reproductive season. Data on reproductive behavior and biology of this Mediterranean endemic species has not been published previously. Males guarded territories…