Dragonflies and damselflies (the Odonata) are among the most efficient flying insects. However, fragmentation of the landscape can increase distance between habitats and affect costs of dispersal, thus shaping phenotypic patterns of flight-related traits, such as wing shape, wing loading and wing size. Urban landscapes are highly fragmented, which limits dispersal among aquatic habitats. Hence,
For the first time water dipping behaviour of Calopteryx during threatening flight is reported. Four males of Calopteryx virgo in a small rivulet coming from a spring pool in SW France involved in threatening flights near an opponent dipped a wing into the water, producing conspicuous water rings. One male did this twice and additionally…
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…
The dragonfly genus Ischnura has been the subject of numerous studies and is well studied in Europe and the Middle East. Nevertheless, information on the ecology, habitat preferences and phylogenetic relationships of some species is deficient. One species lacking such data is Ischnura intermedia, a near endemic species of the Middle East, found for the…
The transition between larval and adult stage in amphibious insects is called emergence. During emergence abdominal contractions and excretion of liquid drops can be observed in several insect orders. Since the function of these processes is not yet known in odonates, this study examines the probable function of abdominal contractions and excretion of liquid drops…
Euphaea opaca Selys, 1853 is an endemic damselfly to China, but little is known about its biology and ecology. In this study, we investigated the life history and secondary production of E. opaca in a third order subtropical stream of Guangdong, China. Larvae were collected monthly from October 2010 to September 2011 using a Surber…
Several odonate species are threatened in the Mediterranean basin and some of them show alarming decreasing trends. The distribution and population estimations provided by the IUCN are based on occasional field sampling or non-rigorous methodologies and could be erroneous and misleading. To obtain reliable estimations of the population size and distribution of three threatened species,…
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…
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’…