Siberian maid of honor
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Siberian mermaid ( Aeshna crenata ), male |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Aeshna crenata | ||||||||||||
| Hagen , 1856 |
The Siberian mermaid ( Aeshna crenata ) is the largest species of mermaid found in Europe . This dragonfly belongs to the family of the noble dragonflies (Aeshnidae).
features
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The Siberian mermaid reaches a body length of 71 to 86 mm, a hind wing length of 44 to 60 mm and a wingspan of 120 mm, making it one of the largest dragonflies found in Europe. The mosaic-like drawing that is typical for the genus and that gives it its name consists of colored spots in a dark brown to black basic color. In the male, the spots on the abdomen are colored pure blue, the chest markings are blue and yellow, often with a dark blue-violet tinge. The females typically have yellow and green colored markings. The lower cercus of the male is about twice the length of the two upper ones , and the upper cerci have two to three strong teeth at their ends on the top. The wings are mostly crystal clear (hyaline), occasionally in males they are tinted brown in the area of the wing mark; in the older females they are darkly smoky between the nodus and the wing mark, which can also be seen in flight. The female's mosaic drawing often resembles that of the male. This feature, which occurs in various types of dragonflies, is known in technical terms as androchrome (male-colored). The cerci of the females of the Siberian mermaid are pointed, while they are usually rounded in other species of the genus. The Siberian mermaid differs from the similar Baltic mermaid ( Aeshna serrata ) and the peat mermaid ( Aeshna juncea ) that occur in the same habitat , apart from the size and shape, by the brown colored Costa loader .
Occurrence
The eponymous main distribution area of the species is Siberia and other parts of Russia . The Siberian maid of the mosaic can also be found in Finland , Belarus , Latvia , Lithuania and North Korea . The habitat varies depending on the area of distribution, so in Siberia nutrient-rich and lavishly vegetated waters, such as lakes, large river valleys, slow-flowing waters, oxbow lakes and even cattle troughs serve the development of these dragonflies. In Europe, however, where the species is much rarer, kettle bogs are their preferred habitat . The red list of the European Union lists the species as "potentially endangered" ( NT , "Near Threatened"), the IUCN, however, because of its large distribution area as not endangered ( LC , "Least Concern").
Way of life
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The way of life of the Siberian mosaic maiden differs from that of other noble dragonflies and has so far been little researched. The males, like those of other representatives of the genus, form territories from which other males of their own species and, rarely, other noble dragonflies are driven away. There were also observations that several males of the Siberian mosaic maiden shared a territory with each other. In another sighting, a male of the Siberian damsel actively pursued a female of the brown damsel ( Aeshna grandis ) and tried to bite into her thorax before the female brown damsel left the territory of the male Siberian damsel. These areas, the size of which can be a bank length of 10 to 30 meters, are limited by conspicuous vegetation elements on the waterfront, such as protruding branches or protruding sedge or rush bulbs. The males rarely form fixed territories, but more often fly around freely and try to occupy areas occupied by other males. The flight behavior of the males in the territorial flight is mostly calm and takes place relatively low at 50 to 150 cm above the ground. The males also catch prey while flying in territory. The flight is occasionally interrupted by short sails and less often by buzzing phases.
Reproduction & Development
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The reproduction and larval development of the Siberian mosaic maiden is not yet fully understood. The flight time of the species is from July to September. As with all dragonflies, the pairing takes place in the form of a pairing wheel. Then the females look for a suitable storage place over a longer distance. If one is found, the female inspects it during a hovering flight, lowers the flight and, if the spot proves suitable, starts to land. The female then holds her abdomen under water and tries to use it to feel a suitable place to lay eggs and lays the eggs as soon as a suitable place has been found. The female likes to use dead wood that is already rotted in the water as an egg-laying point, but also plants such as the branchy hedgehog's cob , the common frog spoon or the stalks of various sedges . It is not uncommon for females to be approached by males who are ready to mate while they are laying their eggs, and signal unwillingness to mate with the downward-curved abdomen.
Systematics
The Siberian mosaic maiden has had the scientific name Aeshna crenata since it was first described in 1856 by Hermann August Hagen . The Aeshna gigas described in 1908 by the Russian entomologist Aleksandr Nikolaevich Bartenev (Александр Николаевич Бартенев) and the Aeshna nigroflava described in the same year by the German entomologist Ludwig Martin are synonyms for Aeshna crenata .
gallery
Lateral view of a male
Male in flight
Flying female of the green color variant (left) and male (right) in comparison
Green female in flight
Androchromic female laying eggs
Detail of the same animal
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Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Klaas-Douwe B. Dijkstra (Ed.): Dragonflies Europe. The destination guide. Haupt Verlag, Bern 2014, ISBN 978-3-258-07810-6 . Aeshna crenata on pp. 160-161.
- ↑ a b c d e Sibirische Mosaikjungfer , description of the Siberian Mosaikjungfer on libellenwissen.de, accessed on May 24, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Falk Petzold: Observations on the behavior of Aeshna crenata and A. grandis on a body of water in Western Siberia (Odonata: Aeshnidae). In: Libellula. 21, 3/4, 2002, pp. 79-100. ( PDF, German )
- ↑ Aeshna crenata in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2019. Posted by: G. Sahlén, 2006. Retrieved on 24 May of 2019.
