Wandering dragonfly
| Wandering dragonfly | ||||||||||||
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A male wandering dragonfly |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pantala flavescens | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1798) |
The wandering dragonfly ( Pantala flavescens ) is next to Pantala hymenaea (English "spot-winged glider") the only dragonfly species of the genus Pantala from the subfamily Pantalinae . Fabricius first described the species in 1798 . It is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly on the entire earth .
features
Construction of the Imago
Wandering dragonflies are up to 4.5 cm long and reach wingspans between 7.2 cm and 8.4 cm. The front of the head is yellowish to reddish. The trunk ( thorax ) is usually yellowish to gold-colored with a dark line and hairy. However, specimens with a brownish or olive-colored thorax have also been discovered. The abdomen ( abdomen ) has a similar color characteristic as the thorax.
On the hamulus , a small hook-shaped appendage on the secondary sexual organ of the male, the outer branch is missing or rather is only indicated by a bulge. In the female, on the other hand, there are two short vaginal probes on the last segment of the boat-shaped abdominal plate.
The wings are not colored and are very broad at the base. Here, too, individual specimens with olive, brownish and yellowish wings were discovered. On the Easter Island occurred hiking dragonflies even with black wings.
The wing mark or pterostigma is again yellowish. A yellowish shadow can appear at the wing base and at the wing tip of the transparent wings. The chestnut-red compound eyes take up a large part of the head , as is usual with the dragonflies (Anisoptera). The color deviations mentioned are certainly an explanation for the many scientific descriptions under different names.
Construction of the larvae
The larva has a length of 24 to 26 mm. It is light green with light, light brown speckles. The rounded eyes are arranged laterally at the bottom of the head, and the abdomen ends bluntly.
The paired side plates (ventrolateral plates) of the eleventh abdominal segment , the so-called paraproct , are smooth when viewed from the side. The unpaired dorsal plate of the eleventh abdominal segment, the so-called epiproct , is roughly the same length as or longer than the paraproct. This distinguishes them from larvae of the genus Tramea , in which the Epiproct is shorter than the Paraproct. Furthermore, the species has 12 to 14 bristles on the palpus , a button on the mouthparts , and thus fewer than P. hymenaea , which has between 15 and 18 bristles here.
Dimorphisms
The females show some differences compared to the males ( dimorphisms ). In addition, a distinction can be made between animals living on continents and animals on islands. In general, the wings of the male are darker than those of the female. In mainland animals , the length of the femur , the longest leg section, varies more in males . They also have longer fore wings and shorter hind wings than the females. In the island representatives, however, the fore and hind wings are longer than those of the female, and the femur shows the same variations in both. Other differences between mainland and island animals particularly concern the color scheme. So island representatives are generally darker.
Similar species
In addition to the sister species Pantala hymenaea , which, however, has a conspicuous brown basal spot in the hind wing and is generally somewhat darker in color, the wandering dragonfly is to be confused in particular with some representatives of the genus Tramea . However, these usually have a distinctive stripe on their hind wings.
Way of life
Reproduction and development
As is usual in the sailing dragonfly family, there are no pronounced courtship rituals in the wandering dragonfly either . The female mates many times, but mostly only once a day.
After mating, the wandering dragonflies fly in tandem, with the female remaining attached to the male to lay eggs. For this, the animal sometimes chooses unsuitable places such as freshly washed cars. A clutch consists of around 500 to 2000 eggs. The eggs are shaped like an ellipsoid of revolution , with the large semi-axis measuring 0.5 mm and the small 0.4 mm.
The larvae develop within 38 to 65 days, which enables the wandering dragonfly to reproduce in only temporary bodies of water or in swimming pools. In a year, around three to four generations are created. The fast development time and the fact that the larvae often mature in only seasonal waters compensate for the lack of camouflage against predators. However, the larvae seem to be very sensitive to temperature . The life expectancy is not known, as a determination is almost impossible due to the high mobility of the animals.
nutrition
Like all dragonfly larvae, those of the wandering dragonfly are predatory. Compared with other types of family of libellulidae is larva , however, very active in the search for food and feeds relatively indiscriminately by all sorts of aquatic invertebrates such as aquatic insect larvae and amphipods . But tadpoles and small fish are also included in the diet.
The imago mainly feeds on small flying insects such as mosquitoes. In swarms , they also eat flying ants and termites .
Flight behavior
Your flight speed is 5 m / s. Especially in autumn, the wandering dragonfly flies in large swarms , making use of the thermals . One report even speaks of a "cloud" that covered 34 km². She prefers to use damp winds. In normal flight, representatives stay on islands at heights of one to 2.5 m above the ground and interrupt their flight when clouds are gathering. The continental representatives, on the other hand, choose altitudes of three to four meters and do not interrupt their flight even in bad weather. The animals on Easter Island have evolved from flying far out to sea, as this usually means certain death.
When landing, the animal strives for a vertical position. As with all dragonflies, the wings stick out from the body, so they are not put on.
Spread and time of flight
The wandering dragonfly has an extremely wide distribution area, which extends approximately up to the 40th degree of latitude or to the 20 ° C isotherms . The 20 ° C isotherms indicate that area in which the temperature in the annual average is 20 ° C. This means that it occurs both in the tropics and in the temperate zones of North America. There are only a few sightings of the species from Europe, with serious evidence so far mainly from the Aegean Sea and the adjacent mainland. All wandering dragonfly reports from England or France are to be assessed as extremely dubious or based on e.g. B. returned animals imported with banana deliveries. The barrier effect of the Sahara is seen as an explanation for the lack of the otherwise widespread species in Europe . With its unfavorable winds, such as the dry Scirocco , and its pronounced dryness, this makes it almost impossible for the animal to cross. Their arrival in the subtropics and tropics coincides with the tropical convergence zone . This again shows their preference for damp winds. The wandering dragonfly does not arrive in the southeast Indian Tamil Nadu until the second monsoon - because only this brings the rain in that region. In the rest of India, however, it already arrives with the first rain-bringing monsoon. It was seen as the highest flying dragonfly known to date at around 6,200 m in the Himalayas . The wandering dragonfly was also one of the first species to resettle on Bikini Atoll after the nuclear weapons tests . It is also the only type of dragonfly that can be found on Easter Island. The individuals represented there appear to be decoupling from the continental individuals due to their smaller gene pool, which slowly creates a new species ( genetic drift ). In colder areas such as South Australia and North Canada , the wandering dragonfly cannot overwinter and is therefore replaced by migrants every year.
Naming
Common names
The common name Wanderlibelle is explained by its distinctive migratory behavior , which results from its ability to fly for several hours without a break. The common English name Wandering Glider or Globe Skimmer also suggests this. The name Typhoon Dragonfly , which is common in Hong Kong, for example, results from the arrival of the dragonfly together with or just before the rain. The Japanese name is ウ ス バ キ ト ン ボ, pronounced "Usubaki-Tombo", meaning Usubaki dragonfly. The name in Kanji薄 羽 黄 蜻蛉, the Japanese technical name, pronounced "Usubaneki-Tombo", means Kanji for Kanji:
- 薄 = Usu = petite, thin
- 羽 = Ba (ne) = wing
- 黄 = Ki = yellow
- 蜻蛉 = tombo = dragonfly
This can be translated as "yellow dragonfly with graceful wings".
Scientific name
The scientific name Pantala flavescens consists on the one hand of the word Pantala , which means "all wings" and alludes to the large and long wings, and on the other hand from the Latin flavescens , which means gold / yellow and refers to the pronounced golden color.
The species was first described in 1798 as Libellula flavescens by Fabricius as follows:
"L. [flavescens] alis hyalinis: stigmate niveo, corpore flavescente. Habitat in India Dom. Daldorff. Statura praecedentium. Caput flavescens oculis magnis, fuscis. Thorax flavescens, immaculatus. Abdomen compressum, flavescens linea dorsali nigra. Alae albae stigmate marginali niveo. "
The holotype on which this first description is based is kept in the Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen and was a female from India . In the following years a few more descriptions appeared with changing names. In 1805, Palisot de Beauvois named an animal from Nigeria as Libellula viridula . Around 1823, the British entomologist Dale described in an unpublished manuscript a male supposedly captured in Norfolk as Libellula sparshalli , now in the Hope Museum in Oxford . In 1839, Burmeister named a male from Madras , which is now in the Halle Zoological Collection , as Libellula analis and another male from Brazil as Libellula terminalis . The latter is located in the Natural History Museum Vienna . In 1910 the field cleared when Muttkowski recognized the synonymy of species. Except for a description in 1955, as Sympetrum tandicola by Singh based on a male from the Himalayas , which is now in the Zoology Survey India in Calcutta , only publications followed in which the species was referred to as Pantala flavescens . Singhs Sympetrum tandicola was synonymous with Pantala flavescens in 1973 by Mitra .
Systematics
The wandering dragonfly, together with Pantala hymenaea, forms the genus Pantala . This in turn gives its name to the subfamily Pantalinae within the family of the sailing dragonflies .
The sister species Pantala hymenaea is, as the missing German trivial name already implies, not at home in Germany or Europe .
In cladistics , the genus Pantala is compared within the Pantalinae to all other genera of this subfamily. For the subfamilies of the sailing dragonflies there is currently no study that allows a dichotomous representation of the phylogeny , so according to the current state of research, the Pantalinae cannot be clearly compared to another subfamily as a sister group.
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Protection status
The wandering dragonfly has the protection status G5 worldwide , which means that it is classified as a very widespread and non-endangered species that occurs in large numbers. It received this status on December 30, 1985. In the USA it has the nationally equivalent protection status N5. In Canada, however, it is rated lower with N4. This means that while the population is currently considered good and the species is considered safe, there will be long-term concerns. Protection status has also been granted at the level of many states in the USA and Canada. These are shown in the graphic on the right in their development.
Postage stamps
The wandering dragonfly also owes its widespread use to being featured on some postage stamps . On July 29, 1974 , Wallis and Futuna published a 45- franc postage stamp showing a wandering dragonfly over a body of water with some vegetation. It has the Michel number 257 and appeared in a number of insect motifs. In 1975, on November 9th, the Pitcairn Islands introduced a stamp that shows a wandering dragonfly against a dark blue background and was worth 15 cents . Her Michel number is 154, she also appeared in an insect collection.
On May 25, 1983, Tuvalu issued a 10- cent postage stamp showing a wandering dragonfly. The lithographic illustration was designed by JE Cooter. Her Michel number is 190 and she appeared in a number of dragonflies. The representation is limited here to the dragonfly with grass. Another wandering dragonfly stamp was issued on December 25, 1983 in Botswana at 6 Thebe . It shows the dragonfly against a blue background on a plant.
Again in Wallis and Futuna a stamp was issued on August 4, 1998, this time showing the animal in flight against a yellow background. The value was 36 F and the Michel number is 736. It also appeared together with other insect motifs. The latest stamp to date is from 2003 and was issued in North Korea . Its value is 15 won and it represents a wandering dragonfly perched on an ear.
literature
Initial descriptions
- Fabricius: Entomologia systematica emendata et aucta . Supplement. S. 285 .
- Beauvois: Insectes recueillis en Afrique et en Amérique . S. 69 .
- Burmeister: Handbook of Entomology . tape 2 , p. 852 .
(Source below)
Secondary literature
- Arnett H. Ross, Jr. American Insects. A Handbook of Insects of America North of Mexico . CRC Press, Boca Raton 2000, ISBN 0-8493-0212-9 .
- Cynthia Berger: Dragonflies (Wild Guides) . Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg (Pennsylvania) 2004, ISBN 0-8117-2971-0 , pp. 97 .
- Gerhard Jurzitza: Our dragonflies . Franckh, 1978, ISBN 3-440-04553-6 .
- Jill Silsby: Dragonflies of the World . The Natural History Museum, Plymouth 2001, ISBN 0-565-09165-4 .
Secondary academic literature and articles
- Philip S. Corbet: Dragonflies: Behavior and Ecology of Odonata . Harley Books, Colchester 1999, ISBN 0-946589-64-X .
- FC Fraser: A restatement of the case of Pantala flavescens (F.) (Odon., Libellulidae) as a casual visitor to Britain . In: The Entomologist's monthly magazine . tape 92 , 1956, ISSN 0013-8908 , pp. 347-350 .
- JH Hawking, BA Ingram: Rate of larval development of Pantala flavescens (Fabricius) at its southern limit of range in Australia. (Odonata: Libellulidae) . In: Odonatologica . tape 23 , 1994, ISSN 0375-0183 , pp. 63-68 .
- A. Kumar: On the life history of Pantala flavescens (Fabricius) (Libellulidae: Odonata) . In: Annals of the Entomological Society of America . tape 2 , no. 1 , 1984, ISSN 0013-8746 , pp. 43-50 .
- G. Laister: Pantala flavescens on Rhodes, with an overview of the status of the species in Europe (Odonata: Libellulidae) . In: Libellula Supplement . tape 6 , 2005, ISSN 0723-6514 , p. 33-40 .
- M. Samways, R. Osborn: Divergence in a transoceanic circumtropical dragonfly on a remote island . In: Journal of Biogeography . tape 25 , 1998, ISSN 0305-0270 , pp. 935-946 .
- Henrik Steinmann: World Catalog of Odonata . Volume II (Anisoptera). de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1997, ISBN 3-11-014934-6 , pp. 542 f .
- K. van Damme, HJ Dumont: A drought-resistant larva of Pantala flavescens (Fabricius, 1798) (Odonata: Libellulidae) in the Lencois Maranhenses, NE-Brazil . In: International Journal of Odonatology . tape 2 , 1999, ISSN 1388-7890 , p. 69-76 .
Web links
- Entry on ITIS
- Pantala flavescens in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Clausnitzer, 2005. Retrieved on 12 May, 2006.
- Pictures of the tandem flight
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Henrik Steinmann: World Catalog of Odonata . Volume II (Anisoptera). de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1997, ISBN 3-11-014934-6 , pp. 542 f .
- ↑ James William Tutt: The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation . Charles Phipps., London 1997, p. 213 .
- ↑ a b c d e Cynthia Berger: Dragonflies (Wild Guides) . Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg (Pennsylvania) 2004, ISBN 0-8117-2971-0 , pp. 97 .
- ↑ a b c Arnett H. Ross, Jr. American Insects. A Handbook of Insects of America North of Mexico . CRC Press, Boca Raton 2000, ISBN 0-8493-0212-9 , pp. 128 .
- ↑ a b c d e M. J. Samways , R. Osborn: Divergence in a transoceanic circumtropical dragonfly on a remote island . In: Journal of Biogeography . 25, 1998, pp. 935-946. doi : 10.1046 / j.1365-2699.1998.00245.x .
- ↑ Hagen : The Neuroptera of the island of Cuba . In: Entomological Newspaper . Published by the Entomological Association in Stettin. tape 28 , 1867, p. 217 ( Wikisource ).
- ↑ Tim Manolis, Timothy D. Manolis: Dragonflies and Damselflies of California (California Natural History Guides (Paperback)) . University of California Press, 2003, ISBN 0-520-23567-3 , pp. 40 .
- ↑ a b c d e Mark Lung, Stefan Sommer: Pantala flavescens. Retrieved March 9, 2006 .
- ↑ Jerrell James Daigle: Florida Dragonflies (Anisoptera): A Species Key to the Aquatic Larval Stages . In: Technical Series . 12, No. 1, November 1992, p. 23.
- ↑ JC Abbott: Odonata Central: An online resource for the Odonata of North America. Austin, Texas. In: odonatacentral.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016 ; Retrieved May 12, 2006 .
- ↑ Alex Córdoba-Aguilar: Sperm ejection as a possible cryptic female choice mechanism in Odonata (Insecta) . In: Physiological Entomology . Online Early, August. doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-3032.2005.00498.x .
- ↑ Kamilla Schenk, Dagmar Söndgerath: Influence of egg size differences within egg clutches on larval parameters in nine libellulid species (Odonata) . In: Ecological Entomology . 30, 2005, p. 456. doi : 10.1111 / j.0307-6946.2005.00707.x .
- ↑ Frank Suhling, Kamilla Schenk, Tanja Padeffke, Andreas Martens: A field study of larval development in a dragonfly assemblage in African desert ponds (Odonata) . In: Hydrobiologia . 528, 2004, pp. 75-85.
- ↑ a b Jill Silsby: Dragonflies of the World . The National History Museum, Plymouth 2001, ISBN 0-565-09165-4 , pp. 180 .
- ^ Frank Johansson, Frank Suhling: Behavior and growth of dragonfly larvae along a permanent to temporary water habitat gradient . In: Ecological Entomology . tape 29 , no. 2 , April 1, 2004, p. 196-202 , doi : 10.1111 / j.0307-6946.2004.00592.x .
- ^ JH Hawking, BA Ingram: Rate of larval development of Pantala flavescens (Fabricius) at its southern limit of range in Australia. (Odonata: Libellulidae) (quoted from Laister) . In: Odonatologica . 23, 1994, pp. 63-68.
- ↑ Robert B. Srygley: Wind Drift Compensation in Migrating Dragonflies Pantala (Odonata: Libellulidae) . In: Journal of Insect Behavior . 16, No. 2, March 2003, pp. 217-232.
- ↑ a b c d Philip S. Corbet: Dragonflies: Behavior and Ecology of Odonata (quoted from Laister) . Harley Books, Colchester 1999, ISBN 0-946589-64-X .
- ↑ G. Laister: Pantala flavescens on Rhodes, with an overview of the status of the species in Europe (Odonata: Libellulidae) . In: Libellula Supplement . 6, 2005, pp. 33-40.
- ↑ Gerhard Jurzitza: Our dragonflies . Franckh, 1978, ISBN 3-440-04553-6 , pp. 22 .
- ^ Charles L. Hogue: Latin American Insects and Entomology . University of California Press, 1993, ISBN 0-520-07849-7 , pp. 198 .
- ↑ FC Fraser: A restatement of the case of Pantala flavescens (F.) (Odon., Libellulidae) as a casual visitor to Britain. . In: The Entomologist's monthly magazine . 92, 1956, pp. 347-350.
- ↑ Mikko Haaramo: Mikko's Phylogeny Archive Neolamellida . (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved March 25, 2006 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life. NatureServe, February 2006, accessed March 25, 2006 .
- ^ Postage stamp Pantala flavescens (Wallis and Futuna) Yt @ WF188. Colnect, accessed July 10, 2012 .
- ^ Society of German-speaking Odonatologists: Dragonflies Stamps 1970–1979 ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ 1983 - Tuvalu Commemorative Stamps. In: Tuvalu Online. Brian Cannon, accessed March 24, 2006 .
- ^ Society of German-speaking Odonatologists: Dragonflies Stamps 1980–1984 ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Dragonfly Stamp of Botswana. In: Insects on Stamps. Retrieved March 24, 2006 .
- ^ Society of German-speaking Odonatologists: Dragonflies Stamps 1995-1999 ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Society of German-speaking Odonatologists: Dragonflies Stamps 2003-2005 ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
