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…
Odonates in (slow) motion: a tribute to Georg Rüppell Dagmar Hilfert-Rüppella , Andreas Martensb , Frank Suhlingc Institut für Fachdidaktik der Naturwissenschaften, Abteilung Biologie und Biologiedidaktik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany University of Education Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany Institut für Geoökologie, Division Landscape Ecology and Environmental System Analysis, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany International Journal of (more…)
The reproductive behaviour of the damselfly Neurobasis chinensis (Calopterygidae) was filmed at 300 and 600 frames per second in Thailand in spring 2009. This was subsequently viewed in slow motion for detailed analysis. Altogether we observed 26 matings at two different sites. Besides visual observations of behaviour of male–female encounters at the reproductive sites, we…
The maiden flight of five species of Odonata of different families was filmed by slow motion up to 500 f/s and analysed frame by frame. The aim of this study was to find out if the maiden flight differs among various species as well as between tenerals and adults within the same species with respect…
In high densities males of Calopteryx splendens showed alternative reproductive behaviour at the river Oker in northern Germany. One of several tactics was to pursue females. Pursuing flight was filmed in summer 2006 in slow motion. Frame by frame analysis showed that males fly in irregular flight patterns: they showed different lengths of wing beat…
Different flight manoeuvres of males of Calopteryx splendens were analysed by means of slow-motion filming. The wingbeat frequencies of males flying in tandem were higher than those of single flying males.