Odonata are the bioindicators of freshwater ecosystem health and is recognised as an excellent ‘flagship’ group among insects. Baseline knowledge on the diversity and distribution of odonates over spatiotemporal scale is the key to biodiversity conservation. Rani Reserve Forest of Assam is a mosaic of all the habitat types suitable for odonates. The present work aims at studying the diversity and distribution of Odonates in Rani Reserve Forest. The study was carried out from December 2014 to November 2017 by categorising the study area into three major habitat types: 1. lentic system, 2. lotic system and 3. terrestrial woodland. A total of 67 species belonging to 44 genera, representing 11 families were recorded. First published records of three species, Onychothemis testacea (Libellulidae), Philoganga montana (Philogangidae) and Indocnemis orang (Platycnemididae) from the state are also provided herewith. Species richness was the highest in lentic system whereas recorded the lowest in running waters of larger forested streams. Shannon diversity index also indicated that the lentic system is relatively diverse (2.95) and smaller streams of the lotic system showed the highest species evenness (0.87). Libellulidae (43%) was found to be the most dominant family belonging to suborder Anisoptera followed by Coenagrionidae (22%) of suborder Zygoptera. Philogangidae (1%) recorded the lowest number of species. Taxonomically related species showed distinct ecological segregation within these different habitat types occupying different microhabitats therein.
Calicnemia miles (Laidlaw, 1917) is a bright red blood colored, damselfly specialized to waterfalls. Apart from the limited knowledge on the flight season, no prior reports on the breeding biology of the species are available. The present study attempts to describe the seasonality, habitat and behavioral aspects of oviposition in C. miles recorded from Assam. The population of C. miles was recorded during late premonsoon (April-May) and early monsoon season (June-July); peak of flight and copulation was observed in the month of June. The species occupies shady areas near waterfalls and was found to prefer roots of trees, moss carpet and damp seepage of streamlets surrounded by vegetation for mating and oviposition. The female deposits eggs into the plant tissue endophytically. Daily oviposition activity lasts from 80-120 minutes during which the males guards their females in tandem till the entire episode of oviposition.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.