Odonata

Mexico

Erythrodiplax berenice - Seaside Dragonlet

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Order	Odonata
Suborder	Anisoptera
Family	Libellulidae
Genus/species	Erythrodiplax berenice
Italian name	--
English name	Seaside Dragonlet

Adult flight

in tropical areas, practically all year.

Habitat

Salt pans, estuaries, bays and lakes with a high salinity content.

The species is reported on the Atlantic coast of Canada to Venezuela and Trinidad.

Description

Dimensions: body 28-35 mm;
rear wing 18-26mm,
abdomen 15-23 mm.
Male : Red eyes, blue body.
Female and teneral: Brown eyes, yellowish thorax with black friezes, brown abdomen with black friezes.

Both the females and the immature males are gynocromes, that is, they change color according to age, the females lose the color of the abdomen which becomes almost completely black, the immature males gradually take on the colors of the adult.

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (male)

Photographs taken in Mexico, Quintana Roo, September 2016

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (male)

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (female)

Photographs taken in Mexico, Quintana Roo, September 2016

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (female)

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (juvenile male)

Photographs taken in Mexico, Quintana Roo, September 2016

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (juvenile male)

Copula; Mating wheels:

Procedure:
- The male transfers a sperm sac from the genital orifice located on the tail into the sperm pouch located under the abdomen;
- after which it starts looking for an available mate, grabs her by the neck with the caudal cerci and if she consents, she supports the apparatus female genital to the male spermatic pouch, forming the classic "heart" position and acquires the sac for its fertilization;
- "Tandem": In many species of Odonata, after the acquisition by the female of the sperm sac, the male does not let go and supervises the oviposition, in order to prevent other males from fertilizing her by replacing her sperm sac.

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (tandem - guarding)

Sex act post for controlled deposition.

Photographs taken in Mexico, Quintana Roo, September 2016

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (tandem - guarding)

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Autore: Solaxart

e-mail:solaxart@preboggion.it

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Erythrodiplax berenice - Seaside Dragonlet

Order

Odonata

Suborder

Anisoptera

Family

Libellulidae

Genus/species

Erythrodiplax berenice

Italian name

--

English name

Seaside Dragonlet

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (male)

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (female)

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (juvenile male)

Copula; Mating wheels:

Procedure:

The male transfers a sperm sac from the genital orifice located on the tail into the sperm pouch located under the abdomen;

after which it starts looking for an available mate, grabs her by the neck with the caudal cerci and if she consents, she supports the apparatus female genital to the male spermatic pouch, forming the classic "heart" position and acquires the sac for its fertilization;

"Tandem": In many species of Odonata, after the acquisition by the female of the sperm sac, the male does not let go and supervises the oviposition, in order to prevent other males from fertilizing her by replacing her sperm sac.

Erythrodiplax berenice : Seaside Dragonlet (tandem - guarding)