Colour-based traits are widespread in flying species due to the importance of visual perception in their communication. Ontogenetic colour changes and reversible physiological colours occur in some species and are used as communication signals to conspecifics. The genus Mnais (Zygoptera: Calopterygidae) shows both genetic colour polymorphism and age-related colour changes, making challenging even the identification…
The Odonata from the Refúgio Estadual da Vida Silvestre do Rio Pandeiros (RVSP), located in the Cerrado domain, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, were rapidly surveyed. Sampling efforts were undertaken along the Rio Pandeiros margins during four sampling periods between the rainy (spring–summer) and dry seasons (autumn–winter) from July 2014 to April 2015. We sampled 97…
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…
Three new species of Ceylonosticta are described and illustrated: Ceylonosticta nancyae sp. nov., Ceylonosticta rupasinghe sp. nov. and Ceylonosticta alwisi sp. nov. from Samanala Nature Reserve (Adam’s Peak), Kuruwita-Erathna footpath, Ratnapura District, Sri Lanka. Ceylonosticta subtropica has been recorded for the first time after 83 years and the first depiction of its genital ligula is…
In a field study carried out in 2011 and 2014 adult dragonflies were identified as a rapid and easy-to-use means of assessing habitat quality and biological integrity of Mediterranean streams and rivers in the province of Barcelona (Region Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula). The study included sampling sites from five different river catchments: Besòs, Foix, Llobregat, Ter…
Microneura caligata (Hagen in Selys, 1886) is an endangered damselfly presently known from five localities in the central mountains of Cuba. The precise systematic position of this species within the former Neotropical Protoneuridae has been the subject of debate, with previous results from a phylogenetic analysis based on morphology suggesting that the genus Microneura should…
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…
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…
In montane forest of south-western Yunnan, China, a female of Ceriagrion fallax was observed and photographed preying on a small web-building spider of the genus Leucauge. This is the first record of plucking an orb-weaver spider by a representative of the genus Ceriagrion. A brief discussion on the evolution of spider feeding behaviour in odonates…
Dragonflies and damselflies are important study organisms in many areas of biology. Laboratory experiments with these insects have a great potential for answering evolutionary, ecological and physiological questions. Laboratory studies require insect rearing, because it can provide large sample sizes of specimens that are available throughout the year. These insects are reared under known conditions,…