The determination of seasonal regulation is important to understand how species have adapted to their local environmental conditions. In this study, we investigate the life history of a North African endemic damselfly, Platycnemis subdilatata, in a northeast Algerian population. We combined field and laboratory investigations to assess the embryonic development, larval growth, emergence pattern and…
Female limited polymorphism consists in the coexistence of two or more female morphs in the same population and is widespread among odonates. Generally, one female morph, the andromorph, resembles males in colour or, sometimes, also in morphology and behaviour, while one or more other morphs, gynomorphs, differ from males. This phenomenon is probably promoted by…
How species respond to shifting environmental conditions is a central question in ecology, especially because ecosystems are experiencing rapidly changing climatic conditions. However, predicting the responses of species interactions and community composition to changing conditions is often difficult. We examined the effects of rearing temperature and resource level on larval survival of two ecologically similar…
Two new genera, Franciscobasis and Franciscagrion, and seven new species, i.e. Acanthagrion franciscoi, Franciscobasis franciscoi, Franciscobasis sonia, Franciscagrion franciscoi, Franciscagrion longispinum, Minagrion franciscoi and Oxyagrion franciscoi, are described and illustrated. In addition, two new species of Peristicta are reported and will be described elsewhere. All these species have been collected along a 600 m stretch of…
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…
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…
In many cases where two closely related species coexist, ecological interaction or reproductive interference drive species to diversify in their body size and/or other signal traits, often concurrently with microhabitat segregation. However, it is usually unclear how character diversification is associated with microhabitat segregation. We performed laboratory experiments using males of two damselfly species (Mnais…
Exuviae collections have considerable value in population studies of Odonata, but methods for standardizing collections or estimating densities and detection probabilities have been little studied. I measured sampling rates for Anisoptera exuviae and used a maximum likelihood, four-pass, depletion population estimator to standardize collections and to estimate exuvial densities and detection probabilities along 10 riverbank…
The estimation of lifetime egg production (LEP) is a central question in ecology, since the number of eggs produced determines the potential size of the following generation. In this study, I tried to obtain a rough estimation of the LEPs in libellulids in outdoor cages. The main questions were: (1) does hand feeding influence females’…
A survey of the Gomphidae of Algeria and the Maghreb was carried out during the period 2013–2014. Sampling of eight main wadis across northern Algeria was undertaken and adults and exuviae were recorded. The survey yielded six species of Gomphidae. Among these, we report on the rediscovery of the Critically Endangered Lindenia tetraphylla in Algeria,…