The larva of Argia chelata is described and figured. It falls into the group of Argia larvae with a moderately prominent ligula and two palpal seta, but it differs from its closest relatives by having labial palp with 2 setae plus one basal setella; the length of the ligula is 30% of its maximum width; basal tergites (1-5) lacking long, fine setae, mainly on midline; S8-10 mostly dark brown; pa...

Spiders are powerful predators, but the threats confronting them are numerous. A survey is presented of the many different arthropods which waylay spiders in various ways. Some food-specialists among spiders feed exclusively on spiders. Kleptoparasites are found among spiders as well as among Mecoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Heteroptera. Predators are found within spiders’ own population (c...

Aim Species atlases provide an economical way to collect data with national coverage, but are typically too coarse-grained to monitor fine-grain patterns in rarity, distribution and abundance. We test the performance of ten downscaling models in extrapolating occupancy across two orders of magnitude. To provide a greater challenge to downscaling models, we extend previous downscaling tests with...

This study reported the 15,435 bp-long complete mitochondrial genome of the relict Epiophlebia superstes (Odonata, Epiophlebiidae), an enigmatic dragonfly of the paraphyletic 'Anisozygoptera' possessing characteristics similar to members of both extant odonate suborders, the Zygoptera and the Anisoptera. This mitogenome comprises the common set of 37 genes and an A + T-rich control region, and ...

BACKGROUND Diversity and distribution of Neotropical aquatic insects is still poorly known, with many species to be recorded and many others to be described, due to the small number of taxonomists and sparse faunistic studies. This knowledge is especially poor in the Caatinga Domain in Northeastern Brazil, even though, this region may have played an important historical role in the spatial evol...

The status and distribution of Idionyx Hagen, 1867 (Odonata: Corduliidae), of the Western Ghats, India, is updated and a new species Idionyx gomantakensis is described and illustrated based on male and female specimens from Kulem (= Collem), Goa, India. This new species can be differentiated from other species of Idionyx by long and slender cerci and epiproct, absence of teeth in the basal half...

The female of Erythrodiplax leticia Machado is described and illustrated. The geographic distribution of the species is updated, and notes on its natural history are provided.

In the present study, we examined the effects of different drying conditions on the composition, structure and function of benthic invertebrate assemblages. We approached this objective by comparing invertebrate assemblages in perennial and intermittent sites along two intermittent Mediterranean streams with contrasting predictability, duration, and spatial patterns of drying: Fuirosos (high pr...

Predatory aquatic insects are a diverse group comprising top predators in small fishless water bodies. Knowledge of their diet composition is fragmentary, which hinders the understanding of mechanisms maintaining their high local diversity and of their impacts on local food web structure and dynamics. We conducted multiple-choice predation experiments using nine common species of predatory aqua...