We marked and released 276 F-0 larvae of Ophiogomphus rupinsulensis in the fall of 2008 in a 99-m riffle (marking riffle) of a small, serially discontinuous, northern Wisconsin river (USA). We then recovered marked exuviae via exhaustive collecting on the banks of a 272-m sampling reach in which the marking riffle was located during spring…
Life history and secondary production of the Chinese endemic damselfly Euphaea opaca (Odonata: Euphaeidae)
Euphaea opaca Selys, 1853 is an endemic damselfly to China, but little is known about its biology and ecology. In this study, we investigated the life history and secondary production of E. opaca in a third order subtropical stream of Guangdong, China. Larvae were collected monthly from October 2010 to September 2011 using a Surber…
Description of the final stadium larva of Philoganga vetusta Ris, with discussion of the taxonomic characters of the larvae of the genus Philoganga Kirby (Odonata: Philogangidae)
The final stadium larva of Philoganga vetusta Ris is described and illustrated in detail. The larva of supposed P. vetusta from Hong Kong is confirmed, and that of Philoganga sp. from Fujian can be determined to be P. robusta. The taxonomic characters and systematic status of the larvae of genus Philoganga are discussed and summarized….
Redescription of the holotype of Mecistogaster pronoti Sjöstedt, 1918 (Zygoptera: Pseudostigmatidae)
Mecistogaster pronoti Sjöstedt, 1918 was described based on a female holotype deposited in the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, collected in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The original description has no illustrations, which makes its identification very difficult. Herewith we redescribe and illustrate this holotype. The species is red listed and considerations regarding its conservation are…
First record of extra-abdominal processes in adult Odonata
Paired extra-abdominal processes (ap) were found in the pleural region of abdominal segments 6–9 in adult Odonata for the first time. They are unsegmented bulge-like or rod-like structures of different size, degree of sclerotization and movability. A short search across odonatan families has shown that ap are inherent for all studied Aeshnidae and for some…
New status for Fraser’s forgotten Aciagrion approximans krishna, stat. nov. (Odonata: Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) from the Western Ghats of India
Aciagrion Selys, 1891 is one of the taxonomically difficult and poorly known genera of Oriental damselflies. Aciargion hisopa race krishna Fraser, 1921 was described from Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, India. However, later Fraser (1933) doubted the taxonomic necessity of this taxon. His notion of Aciagrion hisopa (Selys, 1876) was erroneous, as evidenced by syntypes of this species…
Redescription of Erythrodiplax pallida (Needham, 1904) (Odonata: Libellulidae)
A redescription of both sexes of Erythrodiplax pallida (Odonata: Libellulidae) is provided based on specimens collected in shallow wetlands associated with flood plains from small streams to large rivers in Corrientes and Buenos Aires provinces, Argentina. The vesica spermalis morphology resembles those of the basalis and nigricans groups due to the presence of median and…
Microneura is a junior synonym of Protoneura (Zygoptera, Coenagrionidae)
Microneura caligata (Hagen in Selys, 1886) is an endangered damselfly presently known from five localities in the central mountains of Cuba. The precise systematic position of this species within the former Neotropical Protoneuridae has been the subject of debate, with previous results from a phylogenetic analysis based on morphology suggesting that the genus Microneura should…
A hotspot for threatened Mediterranean odonates in the Seybouse River (Northeast Algeria): are IUCN population sizes drastically underestimated?
Several odonate species are threatened in the Mediterranean basin and some of them show alarming decreasing trends. The distribution and population estimations provided by the IUCN are based on occasional field sampling or non-rigorous methodologies and could be erroneous and misleading. To obtain reliable estimations of the population size and distribution of three threatened species,…
Pseudagrion woodlarkensis sp. nov., a new damselfly species from Woodlark Island, Papua New Guinea (Odonata: Coenagrionidae)
Pseudagrion woodlarkensis sp. nov., a new damselfly species from Woodlark Island, Papua New Guinea, is described and male and female characters are illustrated. The new species differs from all regional congeners by having a predominantly yellow thorax with bold black stripes, and males can be clearly distinguished from all Papuan Pseudagrion species by the complex…