Notul. Vol. No. December 34 odonalol., 4, 2. pp. 21-36. I, 1993
(including B. dorothea) caughl and calen and a
further ten species (including J. terea) attacked
but not successfully caught and concludes, as I
that austeni Like do, O. is a butterfly specialist.
Larsen, I never saw this dragonfly catch anything
but butterflies.
I thank PHILIP CORBET, PETER MILLER
and STEPHEN BROOKS for advice and for iden-
tifying the specimens of O. austeni which have
been deposited in the Natural History Museum,
London.
D.F. Owent. School ofBiological and Mole-
cular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Hea-
dington, Oxford, 0X3 OBP, United Kingdom
Orthetrum austeni (Kirby), a specia-
list predator of butterflies (Ani-
soptera: Libellulidae)
In 1966-70 and again in 1972, 1 repeatedly
observed O. austeni preying on butterflies. My
observations made in of were an area well-grown
rain forest Sierra secondary near Freetown,
Leone. the flew and Typically, dragonflies up
the butterflies down stream as seized as they
crossed from one patch of forest to another. I
also the saw dragonflies flying sorties from
stream-side perches to which they returned again
and with without again or prey. It would have
been possible to have obtained hundreds ofpreda-
tion records, but it was only much later (after I
had left Sierra Leone) that 1 realised that there
are rather few known instances of dragonfliesas
specialist butterfly predators.
I did, however, collect three specimens of O.
with their austeni, together butterfly prey. The
butterflies are Bicyclus dorothea (Cramer) (Saty- rinae), Cyrestis camillus (Fabricius) (Nymphali-
nae) and Junonia terea (Drury) (Nymphalinae),
all three of which are abundant forest and forest-
edge species.
T.B. LARSEN (1981, Notul. odonatol. I: 130-
-133) describes O. austeni preying on butterflies
He records at Lagos. Nigeria. seven species