In the damselfly Calopteryx maculata, territorial males court potential mates and guard ovipositing females near the surface of the water. We conducted a survey and an experiment to determine whether there was a relationship between territoriality (site fidelity and agonistic behavior) and perch height.
Despite a high number of incidental online records of spiders predating upon dragonflies/damselflies, studies on these interactions are scarce. Here, we describe the predatory behavior of Argiope trifasciata on the two most common odonate species in the study area.
The increasing use of dragonflies and damselflies as models in studies on biodiversity in the last decades has unraveled several features of natural processes and mechanisms for species conservation. Nevertheless, biodiversity is a polysemic concept that resolves multiple dimensions that, together, enroll what we observe as species and lineages diversity. One of these dimensions is Ethodiversity, which may represent the individual diversity of behavioral traits and higher organization levels.
Vestalis gracilis (Rambur, 1842) is a forest stream damselfly belonging to the family Calopterygidae. Its last-stadium larvae and exuviae are described and illustrated based on laboratory-raised specimens from Thailand, and observations of agonistic behavior are provided. The taxonomical characters of V. gracilis larvae are similar to those of V. amoena.
More than 400 scientific journal articles and gray literature reports that addressed macroinvertebrate drift were reviewed and 63 articles were found that reported on the natural drift of Odonata at some taxonomic level. Forty-three species and 44 genera within 15 families (nine Zygoptera; six Anisoptera) were documented in the drift. Drift of another 13 species…
The behavior of Mesamphiagrion laterale (Selys, 1876) is described based upon 2430 hours of observation. A total of 2820 individuals were observed for 270 days from 2014 to 2015 using mark-recapture. Probabilities of resight, highest reproductive activity, time-perch and time of perch-temperature were statistically analyzed. Mesamphiagrion laterale is not a territorial species, the individuals perch…
A new species, Noguchiphaea laotica, is described based on specimens from Lon San, Saysomboun Province, Laos. The holotype male and a paratype female are deposited in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo. This new species is allied to N. yoshikoae from northern Thailand, but differs from it in the morphology of the male…
Well-adapted flight morphology must allow for efficient behavioral activities. Wing shape has been shown in a variety of species to be influenced by environmental conditions. Analysis of wing shape using geometric morphometrics provides a visualization of wing shape variations. This study examined the effects of varied environments on wing shape and wing size of the…
Regulation of thoracic muscle temperature has been investigated in a number of dragonfly species but is poorly known in the large and diverse family, Gomphidae. Moreover, temperatures of other body regions have been recorded in very few ectothermic insects. In addition, correlations among multiple components of thermoregulatory behavior have rarely been examined quantitatively. Here I…
In the temperate zone, male perch height of co-occurring dragonfly species (Odonata: Libellulidae) often correlates with species body size. I tested for this relationship in a guild of tropical dragonflies at a wetland at La Selva Biological Station, Heredia, Costa Rica. Males of 12 species were observed perching in January–February 2016. Mean male perch height…