Wandering Males Are Smaller than Territorial Males in the Damselfly Calopteryx Virgo (l.) (zygoptera: Calopterygidae)

In territorial Odonata, adult ?? may use two mating tactics that may be genetically or environmentally determined: territoriality and non-territoriality. The non-territorial tactic has been sometimes found to include 2 additional males: sneaking and wandering. The non-territorial ??, however, often have lower reproductive success than territorial ??. Studies on various Calopteryx spp. have repeatedly shown that territorial and non-territorial behaviours are conditional mating tactics and that body size does not predict ? resource-holding potential and territorial behaviour. Instead, the resource holding potential seems to depend on the amount of ? fat resources. Here, both territorial and wandering C. virgo ?? were collected from a creek in central Finland. It was found that territorial ?? were larger and heavier than wandering ??. The data show that the size of the individual may predict the reproductive tactic of some odon. ?? to a greater degree than previously thought.