We compiled data on the occurrence and frequency of distinct female variants among Holarctic Odonata and interpreted the data in light of harassment-based hypotheses. The major source of male confusion for male mimicry hypotheses is predicted to be signal similarity between andromorphs and male distractors; for the learned mate recognition hypothesis (LMR), it is predicted to be variation in female signals. Mapping morphism state onto molecular phylogenies of Ischnura and Enallagma failed to resolve the general ancestral female condition. However, it appeared that the andromorphic state may be ancestral in one case, and that blue structural colors were ancestral to orange and green pigmentations. Of the polymorphic species surveyed, 13% had more than two morphs, 4% had multiple heteromorphs but no andromorph, and 7% of ‘monomorphic’ congeners were functionally polymorphic because developmental variants mate. Such female signal variation lies beyond the scope of simple male mimicry, but neverthele...

The evolution and frequency of female color morphs in Holarctic Odonata: why are male-like females typically the minority?

A check-list of the Odonata so far reported from India is given, listing 3 suborders, 17 families, 139 genera and 499 species and subspecies. Synonymous specific epithets are included and distribution is shown State-wise. Species of which the larval morphology or the life-history is known, are listed separately. A brief note on an endangered species, Epiophlebia laidlawi is given.

A check-list of the Odonata of India including data on larval studies

The former genus Stellio has already been partitioned into Laudakia Gray, 1845 and Acanthocercus FitzinGer, 1849 on the basis of several pieces of evidence. The main objective of this study is to revise Laudakia which recently includes 20 species: L. agrorensis, L. badakshana, L. bochariensis, L. caucasia, L. dayana, L. erythrogaster, L. fusca, L. himalayana, L. lehman­ ni, L. melanura, L. microlepis, L. nupta, L. nuristanica, L. pakistanica, L. papenfussi, L. sacra, L. stellio, L. stoliczkana, L. tuberculata, and L. wui. More than 600 specimens have been studied with reference to 54 morphological characters which resulted in a detailed descriptive account for each taxon. Agama isozona is recognized as a synonym of L. bochariensis. The latter species itself has been placed in a supraspecific complex consisting of L. himalayana, L. badakshana and L. bo­ chariensis. Laudakia caucasia which has ben lowered and raised several times since its appearance is again identified as a monotypic species by placing L. caucasia triannulata as synonym under L. microlepis. Laudakia fusca was described as a variety of L. nupta but subsequent herpetologists synonymized it or recognized it as full species. According to this study L. fusca should be recognized again as subspecies of L. nupta pending more detailed further research. Moreover, several previous works have indicated that Laudakia is paraphyletic and therefore two new genera are described herein encompassing the stellioand caucasia-groups.

A morphology-based taxonomic revision of Laudakia Gray, 1845 (Squamata: Agamidae)

The competitive exclusion principle states that two species cannot coexist on the same limiting resource. It is possible to view bumblebees Bombus spp. (and other pollinators) as a limiting resource which is partitioned by the flowering plants in a community. I have chosen the alternative view which considers flowering plants as a limiting resource that is partitioned by bumblebees. The fact that bumblebees are annual species, while many of the plants they visit are long-lived perennials, lends support to this interpretation. Furthermore, many plant species may have other means of effecting pollination in addition to bumblebees. Because the relationship between bumblebees and flowers is generally mutualistic, consideration of both views is likely to be most fruitful.

Species Structure of Bumblebee Communities in North America and Europe

Introduction .........................................................68 Material and methods Phylogenetic analysis .............................................69 Biogeographic analysis...........................................70 Taxonomic analysis ...............................................70 Taxonomic part Rhionaeschna Förster .............................................72 Keys Keys to males of Rhionaeschna ...............................73

A synopsis of the Neotropical species of 'Aeshna' Fabricius: the genus Rhionaeschna Förster (Odonata: Aeshnidae)

Fossile und Rezente Dachsbauten mit Massen-Anreicherungen von Wirbeltierknochen

Eine Neue Schlankblindschlange (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae) aus Ecuador

The Dragonfly Fauna of the Western and Northern Parts of Mongolia and Some Phenomena of Their Intracontinental Isolation



Based on 2100 specimens, mostly collected during the II. Mongol-German Biological Expedition of 1964, a brief survey of the dragonfly fauna of Mongolia is given, including special remarks on those species the author met with in the western and northern districts of the country. 12 species are mentioned for the first time as components of the Mongolian fauna. Comparisons of several morphometrical characters (body length, relative length of the abdomen, absolute and relative body weight) between anisopteran species and between the population groups from north, west and south-west Mongolia as well as from central Europe have led to some remarkable results: (1) According to the proportions of the body and the differences between males and females in relative length of the abdomen the species can be grouped into separate constitutional types (Aeshna type, Libellula type, Sympetrum type and others). These types seem to represent special evolutionary strategies to perfect the dragonfly body as a “flying machine”. (2) In the different parts of western Mongolia (northern mountain steppes and woodlands, western desert plains, Dzungarian deserts), the majority of the species is represented by populations differing from each other in measurements and/or body proportions. These differences may be as large as or even larger than the distinction rate between each of the Mongolian and the Central European populations. (3) The differences in body length and proportions between the population groups are expressions of different genotypes; it seems impossible to interprete them as results of diverse conditions for larval growth. (4) Some species of dragonflies in western Mongolia occur as geographically isolated populations; the Altai and other mountain ridges lying to the north and southwest separate them from populations in eastern Kazakhstan (Lestes macrostigma, Libellula quadrimaculata and, may be, some more).

Die Libellenfauna der westlichen und nördlichen Mongolei und einige Phänomene ihrer intrakontinentalen Isolation

Die Wirtelschwänze Zentralasiens (Agamidae: Agama). Ergebnisse der Mongolisch‐Deutschen Biologischen Expeditionen seit 1962, Nr. 59

Dry Season Dragonflies of Indian Lowlands



Only some 60 species, i.e., about 10% of the dragonfly fauna of the Indian subcontinent can be observed during the premonsunal dry season in the plains of India. 42 of them (table 1) were registrated by the author on excursions in New Delhi, Calcutta, Madras, Trivandrum and the surroundings of these large towns in the last decade of April and in May 1979. 260 specimens have been catched for collection, between them two males and one female of a hitherto unknown species (Agriocnemis keralensis), whose description is given in English (fig. 1). Excluding Pantala flavescens in southern India and possibly Brachythemis contaminata throughout the whole country, imaginal specimens of all species were very scarse in numbers and the pupulations were found isolated in restricted favourable localities. The deficiency of oxygen in the upheated water bodies seems to be the main reason for the seasonal scantiness of dragonflies in the Indian lowlands. About 30% of the dry season dragonfly species are distributed well beyond the borders of the Oriental zoogeographic region, whereas only some 3% of the mountain species are not restricted to this region. This comparision shows very clear the high degree of adaptive abilities and vitality of the lowland dragonflies.

Günther Peters

Papers

Fossile und Rezente Dachsbauten mit Massen-Anreicherungen von Wirbeltierknochen

Eine Neue Schlankblindschlange (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae) aus Ecuador

Die Libellenfauna der westlichen und nördlichen Mongolei und einige Phänomene ihrer intrakontinentalen Isolation

Die Wirtelschwänze Zentralasiens (Agamidae: Agama). Ergebnisse der Mongolisch‐Deutschen Biologischen Expeditionen seit 1962, Nr. 59

Trockenzeit‐Libellen aus dem indischen Tiefland (Odonata)