Dragonflies and Damselflies of Mysore Area

Introduction:

This article is one of the first attempts to document the dragonflies and damselflies of Mysore area consisting of Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts excluding National Parks & Wildlife Sanctuaries -Nugu, Biligiri Rangaswamy, Cauvery, Nagarhole and Bandipur.with photographs for ease of identification.

Dragonflies and damselflies are scientifically classified under the order of Odonata. These are flying insects that generally lay eggs in water or on the vegetation near water bodies, which through metamorphosis develops into flying adults. Odonates are generally observed near water bodies and are often called aquatic insects.

Geography, Weather and Habitat characteristics: 

The geographical area of interest in this article is located in the southern part of Karnataka, in the districts of Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajanaga. 

The climate in this study area is moderate, with the summer season spread between March and May, ending with a spell of pre-monsoon showers. The southwest monsoon season starts in the first week of June and continues till the end of September. The months of October and November have a retreating monsoon season, with October being the wettest month. December to February marks the cold season with clear and bright weather.  Over the last century, this area has recorded an average rainfall of 761.9 mm in Mysore and Chamarajanagar and 691.2 mm in Mandya (Anon, 1988 & 2003).

The study area is an undulating table-land of the Deccan plateau, fertile and well-watered by perennial rivers - Kaveri, Hemavathi, Kapila, Shimsha, Lakhmanathirtha, Suvarnavathi, Nugu, and Lokapavani. These rivers are dammed with Anicuts (22 of them) and the stored water is distributed to neighboring lands with the help of canals. Additionally, the study area consists of about 1757 tanks of varying sizes. 

The general vegetation in the study area consists of thorn-scrub (Saldana 1984; Rao & Razi 1981), with a wealthy and diverse flora of 1601 species of flowering plants, belonging to 170 families and 778 genera (Rao & Razi 1981).

Methods:

The dragonflies and damselflies observed and photographed during nature study and field trips conducted in the last two decade were identified with the help of handbooks (Subramanian, K.A. 2009; Jeevan Jose & Vivek Chandran A . 2020) and further authenticated by experts in the DragonflySouthAsia Facebook group.

Results:

A total of 82 species belonging to 9 families and 50 genera were recorded from the study area. Among which 54 species were dragonflies and 28 species were damselflies. The familywise distribution of the observed species is as follows - Libellulidae (38), Coenagrionidae (16), Aeshnidae (9), Gomphidae (6), Platycnemididae (5), Calopterygidae (3), Lestidae (2), Chlorocyphidae (2), and Macromiidae (1).  The detailed checklist of the observed species and some photographs are in the appendix.  Treated Aciagrion occidenatale as Aciagrion paludense based on  Paul Hopkins (2023).

References:

1. Anon. 1988: Karnataka state gazetteer, (Chief Editor: Suryanath U. Kamath) Mysore district. Bangalore: Government Press., Bangalore. Pp.1047

2. Anon. 2003. Karnataka state gazetteer, (Chief Editor: Parthsarathy T.A.) Mandya district, Government Press. Bangalore

3. Fraser, F.C (1936). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma.  Odonata. Vols I-III. Taylor and Franis Ltd., London

4. Hosmani S P. 2012. Diversity and nestedness pattern of adult Odonata assemblages around Hadhinaru lake of Mysore, Karnataka. Abhinav Journal 1(3):20-28

5. P. Hopkins. (2024).  Afirst survey of the dragonflies (Odonata) of Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary, northeast Cambodia. Cambodian Journal of Natural History 2024 (1) 36-56. Centre for Biodiversity Coonservation, Phnom Penh. 

6. Rao,R.R & Razi,B.A. 1981. A synoptic flora of Mysore district, Today and Tomorrow's printers and publishers, New Delhi. 20- 22

7. Saldana,C.J. 1984. Flora of Karnataka, Vol I. Oxford and IBH publishing Co., Mumbai.

8. Samartha, S.G. (2024). A preliminary checklist of the Odonates of Mysuru District, Karnataka. Spreadwings. Volume 2, Issue  1. June 2024.WWW.odonatesociety.org

9. Subramanian, K.A. 2009. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Peninsular India - A Field Guide. Vigyan Prasar, India.

10. Jeevan Jose & Vivek Chandran A (Ed) . 2020. Introduction to Odonata. With Identification Keys for Dragonflies & Damselflies Found in Kerala. Version 2.0

Acknowledgement:

We are  indebted to the members of the DragonflySouthAsia Facebook group in helping with identification, and explaining the behaviors of Odonata species. We are especially thankful to Aaratrik Pal, Antoine van der Heijden, Benoît Guillon, Dattaprasad Sawant, Noppadon Makbun, Pankaj Korpade, Shantanu Joshi, Vinayan Nair, Vivek Chandran for their guidance in identification. Additionally, we are grateful to citizen science websites such as https://www.inaturalist.org, https://indiabiodiversity.org and https://www.indianodonata.org that helped authenticate the species in the checklist. 

Authors & Contributors:

Aaratrik Pal , Dr. Dattaprasad Sawant, Kashyap R, Dr. Abhijith APC, Darrell Parrons, Dr. Gayathri Devi BM, Pavan Ramachandra, Kalpalata Rajan, Karthik T, Kiran Bagade, Vijayalaxmi Rao, Rakesh MN, Rohith MG, Samartha SG , Tanmayee G and Shivaprakash A

IMAGES OF MYSORE AREA ODONATA