Melanoneura bilineata
The first ever odonate survey that concluded in the North Wayanad forest division recently spotted 97 species of odonates, order of insects comprising dragonflies and damselflies .
Macromia irata
The survey was jointly organised by the North Wayanad Forest Division and the Society for Odonate Studies (SOS), a non-governmental organisation. As many as nine camps were set up in different parts of the forest division and took three days to complete.
Asiagomphus Nilgiricus
They recorded as many as 59 species of dragonflies and 38 species of damselflies. Combining the result with that of a research team monitoring odonate diversity of the region for the past two years, the total number of odonate species recorded has reached 114. Of these, 35 species are endemic to the Western Ghats.
Some of the rare and endemic species recorded during the survey including Blue-necked Reedtail (Protosticta mortoni), Vibrant Reedtail (Protosticta sexcolorata), Malabar Bambootail (Melanoneura bilineata), Fraser’s Clubtail (Acrogomphus fraseri), Nilgiri Clubtail (Asiagomphus nilgiricus), Nilgiri Mountain Hawk (Chlorogomphus campioni), Fraser’s Torrent Hawk (Macromia irata), and Minaret Daggerhead (Idionyx galeatus) .
North Wayanad Divisional Forest Officer K. J. Martin Lovel inaugurated the survey . Rakesh K., Sanoop Krishnan P.V., Ramya Raghavan, and Rajith P, range forest officers, led the teams.
Green India Mission, a Central government programme for forest conservation, Coordinator C.S. Anvar coordinated the programme. Mr. Anvar said the rich diversity of indicator organisms like odonates shows the forests were thriving.
As many as 30 odonate experts across the State took part in the survey.
Published - June 02, 2024 12:25 am IST
