Indian damsel flies - Sapphire eyed Spreadwing (Lestes praemorsus) mating video

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Sapphire eyed Spreadwing (Lestes praemorsus) is a beautiful damsel fly found in India and other Asian countries. Watch the damsel flies mating on the tip of an ornamental plant. Recorded from Kannur, Kerala

Dragonflies and Damselflies of Peninsular India - A Field Guide

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Nature is around us, but we need a stepping stone to enter that world and understand its wonders. That way, dragon flies and damsel flies are the most suitable keys t explore the wonders of the world. However, they are numerous and are difficult to understand. This is the reason why Indian academy of Sciences has published ‘Dragonflies and Damselflies of Peninsular India - A Field Guide’, as a basic field guide for identifying most common dragon flies and damsel flies seen in different parts of India.

The book prepared by famous scholar K A Subramanian, who has made extensive studies on odonates and fresh water biodiversity, was published under the Project Lifescape of IAS in 2005. Just to make it a perfect beginners field guide, it has pictures, and descriptions which help us identify species in a field trip. Moreover, to suit it to any beginner, the electronic version of the book is distributed free also.

The book in its electronic version is available in three parts with a detailed introduction which gives a clear idea about different body parts of a damsel fly and dragon fly and also about the terms used in the field guide to describe type specimens of each family. It also keeps detailed illustrations which help any inexperienced dragon fly watcher to get the basics right.

As Professor Madhav Gadgil points out in the forward to the book, “If we get to know them (odonates) better, we are apt to become more concerned with their welfare. That, in turn would mean broader support for our efforts to conserve, and prudently use, India’s rich heritage of biodiversity”.

We hope the field guide will thus unlock the wonder world of nature for more people through dragon flies and damsel flies, gradually leading them to a broader understanding about the need to conserve the rich biodiversity on mother earth.

Download Dragonflies and Damselflies of Peninsular India - A Field Guide free from IAS's Project Lifescape page here,
Or
Download PDF files of Dragonflies and Damselflies of Peninsular India - A Field Guide from the link below.

Introduction

Dragon Flies

Damsel Flies

Why dragon flies are important to Human beings?

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Buddha once said that human has more to study from butterflies than from text books. Same is the case with dragonflies, as far as ecologists are concerned. But why? Wonder why do the elite human race with well-developed brains at his command to survive natural challenges care such a weak creature?

Dragonfly resting on a leaf

The first reason is that they are just like us, living creatures. Let them live. But if you insist on getting benefits, there are many.

Best bio-indicators

Recent researches say that dragonflies, just like butterflies, are prominent indicators of ecosystem health. Any change in the ecosystem will first make a visible mark on dragonflies, be it the climate change or a chemical war.

For instance, some districts in the South Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala report large scale health issues among the people due to the areal spray of Endosulfan, a pesticide which is banned in many European countries. The adverse effect of the pesticide was not studied before starting its use. It grabbed media attention only when a doctor practicing in one of the villages noticed large number of cancerous abnormalities among his patients, years later.

But, the sign was visible very early, but nobody had the eyes to see it.

The area recorded an abnormal fall in the population of damsel flies and butterflies. They were the first creatures wiped out by the pesticide reaction. If an ecologist or nature lover detected the change and raised the alarm, they would have been able to avert many of the deaths (thousands of them, which still continue) in the area.

Any such changes to the ecosystem first reflect on these weak creatures. In South Africa, it was found that the species diversity of dragonflies directly relates to human disturbance and resulting degradation of an ecosystem. The dragonflies in the undisturbed areas were rare or endemic to that region while those found at the disturbed riparian patches were common or general in nature.

Biological Pest Control Agents

Damsel flies also offer important ecological services

 

Dragonfly larvae are known predators of larvae of mosquitoes and black flies which are vectors of fatal diseases. The adult dragonflies devour mosquitoes and similar blood sucking flies which carry diseases.

It has made them effective bio control agents against mosquitoes and insect vectors of some diseases. Granite Ghost (Bradinopyga geminate), a container breeding dragonfly is widely used in Thailand as a biological controller of Aedes mosquito which spreads dengue fever. Its use in the urban areas was proved effective in preventing dengue outbreak and spread.

Similarly, dragonflies help the farmers in pest control too.

Do you know anymore reasons? Share it with us here.

Kerala gets a new dragonfly added to its insect fauna

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The south Indian state of Kerala has got a new entrant to its list of insects recently when a group of researchers have found Microgomphus souteri Fraser, a dragonfly which was not spotted from the state in the past. The fly adds to the 138 member strong Odonata fauna of Kerala.

The new fly adds to the 138 member strong Odonata fauna of Kerala. The insect was spotted from Vlayamchal in the Aaralam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kannur district which is located in the slopes of the Brahmagiri ranges in northern Western Ghats.

The fly which belongs to the Microgomphus genus actually comes under Gomphidae family of dragonflies which are also known as Club-tails for the bulbous last segment of their abdomain. The Microgomphus members of Gomphidae are the smallest in the family with a unique appearance of black and greenish yellow colours.

Microgomphus souteri 
found in Aaralam Wild Life Sanctuary in Kerala
(Photo courtesy Dr.  Mohammed Jafer Palot )

According to researchers, the discoidal cell on the fore wing and hind wing of these flies differ in their shape. Moreover, the fore wing is shorter than the hind wing. The absence of an incomplete basal antenodal nervure and inner branches of superior anal appendages makes them distinct. Slightly notched inferior appendages and the presence of more than two transverse nervures between the sectors of the arc, also helps identifying the genus Microgomphus.

Among other members of the genus Microgomphus, M. souteri  differs with Antehumeral stripes on its thorax which are not confluent with mesothoracic collar. Apart from other features, the two large triangular greenish spots on the black labrum also helps distinguishing them. The 4^th and 5^th abdominal segments of this fly don’t have the mid dorsal oval yellow spots while the 8^th and 10^th segments have no yellow markings.

However, it is also reported that the specimen collected from Aaralam Wildlife Sanctury showed minor variations from the specimen in the earlier record.

Distribution of Microgomphus souteri

Usually found in the humid parts of the Western Ghats and North East India from heights of 609.5 MSL and above, other members of this genus are reported from South Asian countries like Myanmar, Malaysia, Sumatra, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Borneo and Africa.

Though usually arboreal, the males of the species are found resting on rocks in the streams or vegetation on the banks of their parent rivers. India has four members of the species M. chelifer, M. torquatus (Selys, 1854) and M. verticalis (Selys, 1873), apart from M. souteri.

The  present study is the second recorded spotting of the species from India, the first being from Sampaje in Coorg district of the adjacent state of Karnataka some 88 years back.