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…
Calopteryx maculata has become a model system for studying behaviour and reproduction in odonates. Its iridescent coloration is thought to be important in intraspecific interactions but no study has yet measured coloration in a quantitative manner. In a recent study, Fitzstephens & Getty (2000. Animal Behaviour 60: 851-855) showed that lipld levels predict coloration as…
Size and mass are often uniformly related within individuals and populations, but the relationship may vary in time or space. I asked whether isolated adult dragonfly populations within the same environmental context (climate, physiography, ecoregion) differ in both size and mature mass, and whether earlier emerging dragonflies are both larger and heavier on average. Differences…
For eleven species of sympatric libellulids, male mean mass was positively correlated with wing aspect ratio, wing loading, and mean perch height. We tested the hypotheses that perch height selection was governed by interspecific competition or biomechanical responses to increased wind speed at higher perches. Although larger odonates might prefer higher perches to offset their…
Ten common libellulid species perch along the shoreline of lakes and ponds in South Carolina, USA. We collected individuals at five ponds throughout summer 2005, weighed them in the field, and calculated wing loading (N·m2) and wing aspect ratios from digital photographs. We measured the perch-height preferences of these species in ‘low perch’ (10, 20,…
Egg size differences might have an important influence on reproductive success because they may lead to different offspring conditions, hatching date or larval size. We presumed that egg size in odonates positively correlates with egg development time, and larger eggs lead to larger larvae. However, we assumed that the size benefit could only be maintained…
Sympetrum vicinum is a sit and wait predator, which takes off and pursues small flying insects during its long flying season (July to November). We investigated whether foraging individuals become less discriminating regarding prey size selection during the fall season because the changeable fall weather has an impact on the prey population. To investigate the…
A negative relationship between clutch size and egg size is generally expected. However, no such trade off has been reported in Odonata. In this paper we analyse relationships between egg size and clutch size in the dragonfly subfamily of Sympetrinae using material from Norway, Sweden, Germany and France. Clutch size varied within and among the…
The taxonomic status of the Central Asian damselfly Calopteryx samarcandica was determined on the basis of molecular and phenotypic data from the Kugitang Mountains, SE Uzbekistan.
Males of Calopteryx splendens use two alternative mating tactics, territoriality, and non-territoriality. These different mating tactics are shown to vary between males within the same population and previous studies have shown that territorial males have considerably higher fitness than non-territorial males.