Forests have been widely recognized as key habitats for odonate (dragonflies and damselflies) biodiversity, but the importance of forests for holding odonate biodiversity remains understudied in tropical mountains, one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. Here we describe the odonate assemblage composition along the elevation gradient in the Tatamá Mountains (Colombian Cordillera Occidental).
In the last decades, studies on sexual selection in odonates have shown a relationship between mating success and costly sexual ornaments, mainly male characters. Here, we conducted a scientometric analysis to assess the state of art of studies on sexual selection in odonates, especially on the role of male ornamentation (pre-copulatory traits) and sperm competition (post-copulatory traits).
Despite the important role of the order Odonata in ecosystems, there is a lack of information about dragonfly communities in several regions, high elevation sites, and environmentally protected areas in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Our objective was to assess the abundance and richness of dragonfly and damselfly communities along an elevational gradient in the Atlantic Forest, southeastern Brazil.
The increasing use of dragonflies and damselflies as models in studies on biodiversity in the last decades has unraveled several features of natural processes and mechanisms for species conservation. Nevertheless, biodiversity is a polysemic concept that resolves multiple dimensions that, together, enroll what we observe as species and lineages diversity. One of these dimensions is Ethodiversity, which may represent the individual diversity of behavioral traits and higher organization levels.
The growth of agricultural and mining activities in the Amazon has impacted land-use and caused significant changes in the local environmental conditions of streams. In the face of these changes, our study aimed at assessing how environmental changes affect Odonata larval assemblages in streams in the eastern Amazon.
Vestalis gracilis (Rambur, 1842) is a forest stream damselfly belonging to the family Calopterygidae. Its last-stadium larvae and exuviae are described and illustrated based on laboratory-raised specimens from Thailand, and observations of agonistic behavior are provided. The taxonomical characters of V. gracilis larvae are similar to those of V. amoena.
Coeliccia diehlae sp. n. (holotype male from Ko Roong Commune, Ka Bang District, Gia Lai Province, Central Highlands of Vietnam, deposited in the Zoological Collection of Duy Tan University) is described based on both sexes. This species belongs to the pyriformis-group and comes closest to…
The Neotropical genus Forcepsioneura is composed of 11 species that inhabit almost exclusively the Brazilian Atlantic Forest domain, with F. sancta (Hagen in Selys, 1860) being the only species of this genus known to occur in the Cerrado biome. Here we describe a new species of Forcepsioneura from the Cerrado of Minas Gerais State, Brazil….
The department of Ñeembucú, in south-western Paraguay, is home to the virtually unexplored Ñeembucú Wetlands, the second largest wetland system in the country, representing a major gap in biodiversity knowledge. As organisms ubiquitous with wetlands, the Odonata, or dragonflies (Anisoptera) and damselflies (Zygoptera), have the potential to be effective indicators of wetland habitats in the…
Within the damselfly subfamily Platycnemidinae, eight species are currently recognized in South-East Asia. The final stadium larvae of only three of them have been so far described. The final stadium larva of Copera chantaburii is described and illustrated for the first time, based on reared specimens, and new provincial records both of larvae and adults…