Large numbers of the Globe Skimmer dragonfly (Pantala flavescens) appear in the Maldives every October-December. Since they cannot breed on these largely waterless islands, it has recently been suggested that they are "falling out" during a trans-oceanic flight from India to East Africa. In addition, it has been suggested that this trans-oceanic crossing is just one leg of a multi-generational ...

Despite the growing population of European bison (Bison bonasus), it is necessary to plan reintroduction these animals new areas. Reintroduction often requires improvement natural conditions. Such preparatory activities allow more easily adapt places, but also impact functioning from other taxa. The aim presented study was examine waterholes for on development local populations amphibians and d...

Model organisms, such as rodents, monkeys, or Drosophila, have driven much of recent research in neuroscience. However, studies in other, more unusual systems have broadened the types of questions that are being asked and have revealed the diverse ways in which species tackle common problems. Cell editor Mirna Kvajo talked with Nachum Ulanovsky, Gilles Laurent, and Anthony Leonardo about their ...

Flying insects can generally be divided into two groups: 'primitive' orders with forewings and hindwings that move independently (for example, Odonata, Orthoptera, Isoptera) and more 'advanced' orders with wings that are functionally one pair, with the foreand hindwings in contact so as to function as one wing (for example, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Homoptera), or with only one pair of wings th...

Dragonflies are the bio indicators of the aquatic ecosystem. Knowledge and studies on the diversity of dragonflies in India is very high. Identification by traditional taxonomy often leads to misidentification. Incidence of sexual dimorphism is found to be high particularly in the Libellulidae and Aeshnidae family. In order to resolve the above mentioned problem, the accurate identification of ...

High-speed movies of dragonflies turning in flight on flexible tethers show that there are two distinct modes of turning. In the 'conventional' mode, dragonflies use left-right asymmetries in the wing stroke amplitude, and occasionally in the angle of attack, to produce more lift and thrust on one side than the other. This causes the animal to roll into a bank, so that the lift vector has a sid...

Hovering is normally achieved using a horizontal wing path to create lift; bees, wasps and helicopters use this technique. Dragonflies hover using a unique method, by flapping along an inclined stroke plane. This seems to create a higher efficiency than is possible for normal hovering. The aim of this project is to build a mechanical model to mimic the aerodynamic properties and hovering motion...

When a human catches a ball, they estimate future target location based on the current trajectory. How animals, small and large, encode such predictive processes at the single neuron level is unknown. Here we describe small target-selective neurons in predatory dragonflies that exhibit localized enhanced sensitivity for targets displaced to new locations just ahead of the prior path, with suppr...