Robust male condition must be favored and should be signaled to conspecifics via enhanced aggression and more highly expressed ornamental traits. One way that such robust condition, and thereby the expression of aggression and ornamental traits, can be assessed is via survival. In odonate adults, condition (in the form of lipid reserves, muscle mass and…
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…
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…
The Colombian Amazon is one of the most biodiverse and unexplored regions in the world. Inventories and deeper research are needed for most of its biota, including for dragonflies. This work reports the results of a trip to the Amazon region in order to collect Odonata. It includes revision of CBUCES, CEUA and ICN entomological…
Freshwater biodiversity is currently threatened worldwide. In North Africa, 24.4% of Odonata are regionally threatened with extinction. In this region, freshwater resources are particularly scarce and an increasing shortage of water is expected. To better understand the current threats to the endangered North African damselfly Coenagrion mercuriale we updated information on extinct and extant populations…
Phenotypic plasticity represents an adaptive tool in organisms including odonates to cope with heterogeneous environmental conditions. However, while some odonate species can occupy various changing habitats, other species are adapted to a narrow range of environmental conditions. Commonly, behavioural modifications are applied to avoid detection and encounters with predators. But reduced behavioural activity results in…
The damselfly species Paracercion melanotum has been found to be the most abundant species in damselfly larval communities on Okinawa-zima Island in southwest Japan. To clarify differential susceptibility to predation, a possible factor affecting relative population densities in larval communities, between Paracercion melanotum and a less common damselfly species, Ischnura senegalensis, laboratory experiments were conducted…
The flights of male odonates encountering conspecifics at their reproduction sites were investigated by means of slow-motion films. We recorded large and generally consistent differences between species with clear wings (SCLW) and species with coloured wings (SCOW). SCLW mostly fought having physical contact and moved their wings without pauses in wing beats (hereafter designated wing…
In this contribution the final stadium larvae of Erythrodiplax connata and E. basifusca are described and that of E. minuscula is redescribed. Diagnoses are provided for the larvae of the genus Erythrodiplax and for those included in the connata group. E. connata lacks lateral spines on abdominal segments, a character which has not been observed…
Adult female and ultimate stadium larva of Mesagrion leucorrhinum are formally described and illustrated based on material from three locations in Antioquia, Meta and Cundinamarca Departments, Colombia. The species is sexually dimorphic. The ♀ is distinguishable from other related genera by a pair of notches in the prothoracic anterior lobe and shares with Heteropodagrion and…