M. Watanabe et M. Taguchi, Behavioural protandry in the damselfly Mnais pruinosa costalis Selys in relation to territorial behaviour (Zygoptera : Calopteryghdae), ODONATOLOGI, 29(4), 2000, pp. 307-316
The reproductive strategy of the male M. p. costalis can be defined as an a
ttempt to maximize the number of females mated. Males exhibit wing colour d
imorphism: one form has orange wings, and the other has hyaline wings which
resemble female wings. The former is usually territorial and the latter us
es sneaky mate securing tactics around the territories of orange-winged mal
es. Although the length of the emergence period varied from year to year, n
o evidence of protandry was observed. Studies over 10 years have shown that
if the length of the sexually active period in females is stable, the oran
ge-winged males should become sexually mature before females do to achieve
maximal reproductive success. On the other hand, the hyaline-winged males d
o not mature before females due to the fact that they utilize the territori
es of orange-winged males. This study shows that behavioural protandry shou
ld be considered a reproductive strategy of the orange-winged males for est
ablishing territories.