Coenagrion mercuriale is a threatened damselfly in most parts of its geographic distribution. It is listed as endangered in North Africa, where no data on its biology or ecology are available. This study aims to illustrate the reproductive behaviour and habitat preferences of adults in a population located in north-east Algeria, representing the southern limit…
The present study provides the first odonate survey for the Brazilian Caatinga, including species habitat information. Specimens were collected during five days in both dry and rainy seasons of 2011 in the municipality of Itatira, state of Ceará, located in the semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil. Adult individuals of 37 species were documented, the highest…
Assessment of conservation status is a necessary step before management plans can be formulated. Historically such assessments have a strong bias toward vertebrates, particularly endothermic terrestrial vertebrates (i.e. birds and mammals). Invertebrates, by contrast, tend to be ignored, and many insect groups, despite being species rich and reasonably well studied, such as the Odonata (damselflies…
Distribution and abundance of sympatric Mnais costalis and M. pruinosa damselflies were studied in a low mountain stream in Shiga, Japan, from 2008 through 2012. The reproductive seasons of the two species overlapped almost entirely: both species emerged in early May and disappeared in late June each year. Males of both species hold territories within…
Two new species belonging to the endemic New Guinea genus Pyrrhargiolestes are described from Papua New Guinea: P. lamington sp. nov. (holotype: Mount Lamington, Oro Province, dep. in RMNH) and P. yela sp. nov. (holotype: Rossel Island, Milne Bay Province, dep. in USNM). The presumed male of P. aulicus is described for the first time….
The subfamily Argiolestinae is raised to family level to include all zygopteran genera in which the gills of the larvae are flat and held in a horizontal plane. A diagnosis of the family is given and characters for both adults and larvae are presented. The family is divided into two subfamilies based on characters in…
An updated checklist of known Odonata occurring in the Lesser Antilles is presented along with distributional information island by island. Twelve species are removed from previous listings and 16 new records are added, bringing the total number of species to 46. Of the new records, three correspond to the descriptions of new species and one…
Our understanding of mating systems is highly skewed toward temperate examples. This study investigated the mating system, sexual size dimorphism and seasonal variation in local distribution and abundance of male and female Telebasis carmesina, a common damselfly in Brazilian tropical savanna. In a natural reserve, daily census and behavioral observations were made throughout 1 year…
In Venezuela, the “metallic group” includes three species: Argia cupraurea Calvert, Argia jocosa Hagen in Selys, and Argia orichalcea Hagen in Selys. These are here diagnosed and illustrated, and their distribution in Venezuela is mapped. The larva of A. jocosa differs from the few other known larvae of the group in details of the prementum,…
The calopterygines Archineura incarnata and Atrocalopteryx melli are subtropical habitat specialists, endemic to China, and sensitive to environmental change. We identified several sites with environmental deterioration from which the species seem to have disappeared; these species can be used as indicators of human disturbance. In this paper their distribution in China is mapped and information…