Biology of Odonata

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONOdonata, or dragonfli es, constitute a small, well known, widely distributed order of insects. The 5000 or so species belong to three suborders (all referred to here as dragonflies): the Anisozygoptera, containing only two known species; the Zygoptera; and the Anisoptera. Typically large and active by day, the winged adults are conspicuous at ponds and rivers, which usually form the encounter site (see 155) or "rendezvous" (30) where repro ductive behavior takes place. Accordingly, dragonflies provide valuable models for interpreting the behavioral interactions of many other insects that assemble for mating but are less readily watched in the field.Two books treat the biology of the order: the first (201) emphasizes systematics and functional morphology, and the second (30), ecology and behavior. This article is a review of the main features of the dragonfl y life history and so can be regarded as a highly condensed supplement to the second of these books. Accordingly, I give prominence here to research published after 1960, and have not cited sources for information already reported in the second book (30).A topic not reviewed but which deserves mention here is the growing extent to which faunistic records are being used as source material by scientists who are trying to check or mitigate habitat destruction and species extinction by recommending the creation of nature reserves (e.g. 4, 136, 186, 225). As freshwater insects, dragonflies are exceptionally vulnerable to urban and agricultural expansion, which commonly entail the draining of ponds and marshes. HABITAT SELECTIONImmediately after emergence, adults typically fly away from water, not returning until reproductively mature, several or many days later. At this

Composição e preferência por microhábitat de imaturos de Odonata (Insecta) em um trecho de baixada do Rio Ubatiba, Maricá-RJ, Brasil

“…Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 48(2): 273-282, junho 2004 conta a partilha de recursos, quantidade de presas e, principalmente, a de predadores (CORBET 1980 Fig.1), estando a maior parte situada em áreas de planície costeira.…”

Comunidade de Odonata (Insecta) em áreas naturais de Cerrado e monocultura no nordeste do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil: relação entre o uso do solo e a riqueza faunística

“…Possuem ciclo de vida longo, com a fase larval podendo alcançar até dois anos (CORBET 1980), portanto estando sujeitas às alterações ambientais. São consideradas potenciais indicadoras da qualidade do habitat e, apesar de serem menos sensíveis que outros insetos aquáticos, são conspícuas, facilitando os diagnósticos rápidos da qualidade da água (CARLE 1979, SCHMIDT 1985, GORHAM & VODOPICH 1992, SAMWAYS & STEYTLER 1996, FERREIRA-PERUQUETTI & DE MARCO JR. 2002.…”

The odonate mating system, communication, and sexual selection: A review

“…Patterns of intermale competition exhibit high diversity, ranging from simple threat display to ascending chase flight (for examples see the numerous citations in Corbet, 1962Corbet, , 1980Waage, 1984, Ubukata, 1987. Classic examples of signalling devices in intermale competition are wing colouration patterns in Calopteryx (see e.g., Waage, 1973Waage, , 1988 and in Libellula (Moore, 1990).…”

“…The odonate mating system has already been described and'classified on several occasions (e.g., Corbet, 1962Corbet, , 1980Thornhill & Alcock, 1983;Alcock, 1984;Waage, 1984;Conrad & Pritchard, 1992). Isolating mechanisms have been the subject of several discussions in odonate biology (Johnson, 1962;Watson, 1966;Paulson, 1974;Robertson & Paterson, 1982;Tennessen, 1982).…”