The Odonata of St Lucia (Lesser Antilles) - Société l'Herminier

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Pantala flavescens (Fabricius, 1798) Wandering GliderDistribution: SLU003, SLU007, SLU016, SLU027, SLU028,SLU037, SLU039, SLU043, SLU047, SLU054, SLU059,SLU064, SLU068, SLU076A cosmopolitan species that can breed in virtually everytype of standing water habitat available. Larva can growwithin three weeks and can support temporary dryness.Tholymis citrina (Hagen, 1861) Evening SkimmerDistribution: SLU011, SLU044Nocturnal species generally uncommon, but may beabundant in some localities. Only two individuals seenduring this survey. Tholymis citrina lives in standing waterhabitats such as forested ponds or ditches.Tramea abdominalis (Rambur, 1842) Vermillion SaddlebagsDistribution: SLU016 SLU025 SLU026 SLU037 SLU039SLU045 SLU063 SLU066 SLU070 SLU071 SLU074 SLU075Highly common species throughout the West Indies. Verycommon and often abundant. Not really common in StLucia because of the lack of suitable habitats, such ascattle ponds and lakes.Tramea calverti Muttkowski, 1910 Calvert’s SaddlebagsDistribution: SLU043Recorded for the first time from St Lucia. Trameacalverti is a highly vagrant species distributed in Centraland South America, reaching the West Indies irregularly.This species frequent standing water habitats and preferswamps in open land or seepages and sea shore.16
DISCUSSIONThe dragonfly fauna of the Lesser Antilles actually numbers 48 valid species (Meurgey & Poiron, inprep). There are 38 species in Guadeloupe (Meurgey, 2006b), 30 in Martinique (Meurgey, 2005)which both are the richest islands. Species richness decrease to the south with only 7 species in StVincent (Meurgey, 2010) and 19 in Grenada (Meurgey, 2009).Saint Lucia appear as a medium rich island, and the paucity of species could be due to 1) the lack ofstanding water habitats (95% of odonata reproduce in standing water), and 2) the lack of studies,with only two surveys known to us. Among surveyed stations, 62% belongs to lotic habitats and 30%to lentic habitats. The remaining pertain to specific habitats : trail, grassland, ditch… The number ofspecies in Martinique, which is quite equal to those of St Lucia, is due to a high level of disturbances,pollutions and urbanization.We think that the fauna of St Lucia could reach 30-35 species.Hurricane Tomas passed by the Island in November 2010. He especially opened many forested areas.We observed that several streams and rivers are now open, without canopy and colonized by vagrantspecies such as Pantala flavescens, Orthemis macrostigma or Tramea abdominalis. We also saw treesdown across rivers creating microhabitats and promoting the development of some species such asProtoneura ailsa. This information must be verify with further surveys before and after the passageof an hurricane. It is difficult to have an idea of what species could be present in these habitatsbefore Tomas.As for other islands, the odonate fauna of St Lucia is dominated by wide ranging species. Two ofthem, Ischnura ramburii and Orthemis macrostigma are the commonest species in a great variety ofhabitat. The most interesting thing is that these two common species are followed by LesserAntillean endemics (Protoneura ailsa and Dythemis sterilis), which have been recorded from 20 (26%)and 27 (36%) localities respectively.35302520151050IschnuraramburiiProtoneuraailsaEnallagmacoecumTelebasiscorallinaLestesspumariusLestestenuatusFig. 1. Frequency per species (number of stations, n=76) - Zygoptera17
Page 1 and 2: The Odonata of St Lucia(Lesser Anti
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTSINTRODUCTION ..............
Page 5 and 6: MATERIAL AND METHODSThe Island was
Page 7 and 8: SLU058 L'Orangerie, trail 726006.08
Page 9 and 10: RESULTSSPECIES ACCOUNTZYGOPTERADuri
Page 13 and 14: Family LibellulidaeThis family is u
Page 15: Micrathyria aequalis (Hagen, 1861)
Page 19 and 20: AKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe wish to thank war
Page 21: Meyerhoff A.A. & Meyerhoff H.A., 19

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