Due to the destruction of its primary habitats, the West Palaearctic libellulid Orthetrum coerulescens has suffered much decline in central Europe. However, at the regional scale it has survived in a variety of secondary habitat, such as draining ditches. In order to find adequate measures for its conservation and promotion, habitat use and habitat recognition…
A new species (holotype ♂ in MLP: Argentina, Formosa province, Parque Nacional Río Pilcomayo, Laguna Blanca, marshes next to pond, 25°10′29″S, 58°07′44″W, 74 m a.s.l., 16/17 ii 2008, leg. NvE, RWG) is described, diagnosed and illustrated, and a key, diagnostic illustrations, and distribution maps are provided for the three species of the genus occurring in…
Austroaeschna ingrid, a new telephlebiid from the Grampians in Victoria, Australia, is described (holotype: McKenzie Falls, 21-23 January 2008, to be deposited in Museum of Victoria, Melbourne). This species is most similar to A. Christine, A. multipunctata and A. obscura but may be distinguished by the length and slenderness of the male anal appendages, particularly…
It has been shown that life history, behavioural as well as morphological traits vary with the habitats occupied by odonate larvae. Here we ask the following questions: (1) Are the morphological traits, which are associated with perception and foraging, related to the larval habitat? (2) Do these traits influence foraging success and growth rate? We…
Of the many Zygopteran genera that occur in the Neotropics, only five (Hetaerina, Archilestes, Lestes, Argia, and Ischnura) are represented north of 40°N in North America, and only three of these (Hetaerina, Archilestes, and Argia) probably had a tropical origin. In the two genera of Lestidae (Archilestes and Lestes) the life history of temperate-zone populations…
Boyeria cretensis belongs to the most threatened European dragonfly species. It is restricted to some isolated permanent streams on the island of Crete. The streams have a pronounced gallery vegetation and are situated in a narrow belt of altitude between 50 and 400 m. We understand very little about the biology of this species so…
Published records of Mesopodagrion are reviewed and the distributions of M. tibetanum and M. yachowensis are given. Sinocnemis henanese is considered a junior synonym of S. yangbingi. Based on morphological and behavioural characters Sinocnemis is removed from Platycnemididae and placed in Megapodagrionidae. Species of Sinocnemis show a general resemblance to species of Mesopodagrion but it…
Based on examination of the syntype female of Telagrion fulvellum which we designate as lectotype, and its comparison with additional male and female specimens from Peru, this species is assigned to a new genus, Dolonagrion, and both sexes are redescribed, diagnosed, and illustrated.
We revisit the hypothesis, first advanced in 1962, that, with regard to their means of thermoregulation and overt behaviour, two types of Odonata can be recognised: fliers, when active (during reproductive activity, primarily, or foraging) remain on the wing, whereas perchers, when similarly engaged, spend most of the time on a perch from which they…
Climate change brings with it unprecedented rates of increase in environmental temperature, which will have major consequences for the earth’s flora and fauna. The Odonata represent a taxon that has many strong links to this abiotic factor due to its tropical evolutionary history and adaptations to temperate climates. Temperature is known to affect odonate physiology…