The genus Macromia is represented in Sri Lanka by two endemic species. In this paper a third presumed species described based on single male specimen collected at Kirikitta, Weliweriya, Western Province the low country wet zone of country. weerakooni sp. nov. differs from its congeners having turquoise blue eyes, an entirely black labrum, short yellow ante-humeral stripe, interrupted stripe ant...

Insect Dorsal Ocelli (9:00am–12:30pm, Room 304, July 27th) Organizer: †Joshua van Kleef (University of California Berkeley, USA). Most insects possess three simple eyes, known as the dorsal ocelli, whose role in behavior has fascinated scientists for hundreds of years. Our workshop will examine the latest optical, anatomical, neurophysiological and behavioural clues to the functions of ocelli i...

Small freshwater ponds host diverse and vulnerable biotic assemblages but relatively few conspicuous, specially protected taxa. In Europe, the amphibians Triturus cristatus and Pelobates fuscus are among a few species whose populations have been successfully restored using pond restoration and management activities at the landscape scale. In this study, we explored whether the ponds constructed...

The efficiency of an alternative method of collection (by suction of water) for the study of Culicidae and Chironomidae (Diptera), Scirtidae (Coleoptera) and Coenagrionidae (Odonata) in bromeliads with different foliar architecture in a restinga at Florianópolis, SC, Brazil, was studied. The alternative method was less efficient to collect Culicidae and Chironomidae (Wilcoxon test p < 0.05) and...

Water beetles are one of the dominant macroinvertebrate groups in inland waters and are excellent ecological indicators, reflecting both the diversity and composition of the wider aquatic community. The predaceous water beetles (Hydradephaga) make up around one-third of known aquatic Coleoptera and, as predators, are a key group in the functioning of many aquatic habitats. Despite being relativ...

One hypothesis for the small size of insects relative to vertebrates, and the existence of giant fossil insects, is that atmospheric oxygen levels constrain insect body sizes because oxygen delivery is more challenging in larger insects. This study tested this hypothesis in dragonflies by measuring the oxygen sensitivity of flight metabolic rates and behavior during hovering for 11 species of d...

SEMIA 6399T is the type strain of Bradyrhizobium mercantei, a nitrogen-fixing symbiont of Deguelia costata Its draft genome contains 8,842,857 bp with 8,246 predicted coding sequences (CDS), several related to amino acids and derivatives and to stress tolerance, with an emphasis on oxidative stress, in addition to symbiotic genes.

Methylmercury (MeHg) levels in dragonfly larvae and water were measured over two years in aquatic systems impacted to varying degrees by sulfate releases related to iron mining activity. This study examined the impact of elevated sulfate loads on MeHg concentrations and tested the use of MeHg in dragonfly larvae as an indicator of MeHg levels in a range of aquatic systems including 16 river/str...

Dorsal ocelli are small cup-like organs containing a layer of photoreceptor cells, the short axons of which synapse at the base of the cup with dendritic terminals of ocellar nerve fibers. The ocellar ERG of dragonflies, recorded from the surface of the receptor cell layer and from the long lateral ocellar nerve, contains four components. Component 1 is a depolarizing sensory generator potentia...