Recent progress on the flight of dragonflies and damselflies

Remarkable flight performance is key to the survival of adult Odonata. They integrate varied three-dimensional architectures and kinematics of the wings, unsteady aerodynamics, and sensory feedback control in order to achieve agile flight. Therefore, a diverse range of approaches are necessary to understand their flight strategy comprehensively. Recently, new data have been presented in several…

Wing surface in the damselfly Mecistogaster ornata (Zygoptera, Pseudostigmatidae): interactions between nanoscale wax and sticky spider webs

The representatives of the damselfly family Pseudostigmatidae are known for their ability to catch small orb web spiders, or in some cases small kleptoparasitic spiders in the webs of other spiders. In this paper, I demonstrate that the nanoscopic crystalline wax coverage of wings in the pseudostigmatid damselfly Mecistogaster ornata is partially altered due to…

Constant and shifting photoperiods as seasonal cues during larval development of the univoltine damselfly Lestes sponsa (Odonata: Lestidae)

Larvae were reared at 21.5°C from eggs from southernmost Sweden, and fed ad libitum to emergence in four different photoperiodic treatments, intended to represent increasing levels of time stress: constant LD 16:8, corresponding to late April (or August) conditions, a shift after about two weeks from LD 16:8 to 19.5:4.5, coarsely simulating late spring, constant…

The damselfly and dragonfly watercolour collection of Edmond de Selys Longchamps: II Calopterygines, Cordulines, Gomphines and Aeschnines

In the nineteenth century Edmond de Selys Longchamps added watercolours, drawings and notes to his extensive collection of dragonfly and damselfly specimens. The majority of illustrations were executed by Selys and Guillaume Severin. The watercolour collection is currently part of the collection of the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences in Brussels. This previously unpublished…