Large-scale forest fires have shaped the Mediterranean landscape for millennia, causing a recurrent disturbance that constitutes a serious environmental issue. Following a devastating forest fire, changes in the Odonata larvae assemblage of a headwater stream were analysed during six consecutive years.
Although the endemic damselfly, Platycnemis subdilatata Selys, 1849, is widespread in the Maghreb, many aspects of its reproductive behaviour, biology and ecology are still unstudied. One particular feature of this species is that its coloration pattern continues to change during maturation and afterwards, which makes it a good model for assessing age effects on behavioural…
Oviposition in odonate females is usually considered finished when the female leaves the oviposition site. However, considering that many species lay their eggs within a set of bouts it is difficult to distinguish between the end of the oviposition bout and the end of the oviposition episode because the females can change the oviposition site…
Coenagrion mercuriale is a threatened damselfly in most parts of its geographic distribution. It is listed as endangered in North Africa, where no data on its biology or ecology are available. This study aims to illustrate the reproductive behaviour and habitat preferences of adults in a population located in north-east Algeria, representing the southern limit…
The last instar larva of Calopteryx exul Sélys is described and illustrated based on larvae collected from the Seybouse River (northeast Algeria) and reared in the laboratory. A comparative analysis of three other congeneric species is presented.
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…
The region is broadly determined by desert, which forms a huge belt between the western Palaearctic and the Afrotropics. Fourteen out of the 125 odonate species recorded so far are endemics. There are two main centres of endemism in the region: the northern Maghreb and the southern Arabian Peninsula. Odonate habitats in the desert are…