The female of Oreiallagma oreas (Odonata: Coenagrionidae), with notes on the species natural history

Abstract

Oreiallagma oreas (Ris, 1918) is a recently rediscovered Colombian Andean endemic species, for which the information available is very scarce. It was originally described from a single male. Since 2008, O. oreas has been recorded in new localities but its life history remained unknown. Here we describe and diagnose the species female for the first time and show evidence of female dichromatism in the genus. Also, we present photographs and illustrations of males and females, a distribution map, and information on this species biology, reporting that it breeds on bromeliads as other species in the genus.

Keywords:

• Andes
• bromeliad breeding
• Colombian endemic
• color polymorphism
• damselfly
• dragonfly
• Zygoptera

Acknowledgements

We thank A. F. Montoya, C. Flórez, and N. von Ellenrieder for their valuable corrections and suggestions on the manuscript; F. García and J. Torres for the assistance with laboratory photographs. We are grateful to N. Uribe for her beautiful handmade illustrations. We also thank D. Ayala, A. Orejuela, J. D. Marin, N. Uribe, A. Bustamante, C. Flórez, A. L. Montoya, and F. García for collecting some of the examined specimens and their invaluable help in the field. We thank G. Londoño and Montezuma Rainforest for providing supplies and logistic assistance at Tatamá Station. We thank Tatamá National Park research equipment and rangers for their help during all the research performed there.

ORCID

Cornelio A. Bota-Sierra http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6555-7913

Juliana Sandoval-H. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9369-2717

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the Rufford Foundation [grant number 19846-1].