OPEN ACCESS The Journal of Threatened Taxa is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows unrestricted use of artcles in any medium, reproducton, and distributon by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publicaton. Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Breeding behaviour of the Coromandel Marsh Dart Damselfly (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae: Ceriagrion coromandelianum (Fabricius)) in central India Nilesh R. Thaokar, Payal R. Verma & Raymond J. Andrew 26 March 2018 | Vol. 10 | No. 3 | Pages: 11443-11449 10.11609/jot.3537.10.3.11443-11449 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies and Guidelines visit htp://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines visit htp://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct visit htp://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints contact <[email protected]> Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2018 | 10(3): 11443–11449 Breeding behaviour of the Coromandel Marsh Dart Damselfly (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae: Ceriagrion Communication coromandelianum (Fabricius)) in central India ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Nilesh R. Thaokar 1, Payal R. Verma 2 & Raymond J. Andrew 3 OPEN ACCESS 1,2,3 Centre for Higher Learning and Research in Zoology, Hislop College, Civil lines, Nagpur, Maharashtra 440001, India [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] (corresponding author) Abstract: Ceriagrion coromandelianum (Fabricius) is one of the most common damselfies in the Indian subcontnent. It fies among bushes and breeds in stagnant pools, small garden tanks, tubs and ornamental cement ponds containing submerged and/or foatng vegetaton. The ovipositon behaviour of C. coromandelianum was observed at the botanical garden of Hislop College, Nagpur, India, where small underground cement tubs are utlized to grow macrophytes. C. coromandelianum displays a refned hierarchy of preferences for ovipositon and chooses foatng leaves of Nymphaea nouchali (69%) over Lemna paucicostata (23%) and submerged Hydrilla vertcillata (8%). In an uninterrupted ovipositon bout, the female deposits 283 eggs in 16 rows (N=5) on the under surface of the N. nouchali leaf. The tny leaves of L. paucicostata holds 7.8 eggs in 4.8 rows (N=10). In H. vertcillata, the internode region of the stem can house 25.4 eggs (N=10). One or two eggs are also found neatly inserted in the thin leaf base of H. vertcillata. Decaying plant material is never used for ovipositon. The present investgaton also clearly demonstrates that the choice of ovipositon substrate not only depends upon the presence of aquatc species in the water body but also on the spatal locaton of the ovipositon site. Keywords: Egg, endophytc, Hydrilla vertcillata, Lemna paucicostata, Nymphaea nouchali, Nagpur, ovipositon DOI: htp://doi.org/10.11609/jot.3537.10.3.11443-11449 Editor: K.A. Subramanian, Zoological Survey of India, Chennai, India. Date of publicaton: 26 March 2018 (online & print) Manuscript details: Ms # 3537 | Received 03 June 2017 | Final received 08 March 2018 | Finally accepted 13 March t2018 Citaton: Thaokar, N..R., P.R. Verma & R.J. Andrew (2018). Breeding behaviour of the Coromandel Marsh Dart Damselfy (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae: Ceriagrion coromandelianum (Fabricius)) in central India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(3): 11443–11449; htp://doi.org/10.11609/jot.3537.10.3.11443-11449 Copyright: © Thaokar et al. 2018. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this artcle in any medium, reproducton and distributon by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publicaton. Funding: Self-funded. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Author Details: Dr. R.J. Andrew, A merit topper in MSc, completed his MPhil, and Ph.D., from Nagpur University using dragonfy as his research subject. He has been studying various physiological, morphological, ethological and ecological aspects of dragonfies of Central India since last 30 years and has more than 90 research papers to his credit. Presently, he is the Patron of the South Asian Council of Odonatology and is serving as the Director of the P.G. Dept. of Zoology, and Vice Principal, Hislop College, Nagpur. He has published two books on Odonates and has organized one Internatonal, two South Asian, fve Natonal and two State level Symposia. In 2002 he was awarded the “Outstanding teachers Award” where as in 2016, he was awarded the “Best Researcher “by the RTM Nagpur University. Dr. Payal R. Verma is actvely engaged in research in the area of Odonatology. She has completed her PhD from Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University. She is teaching as an Adhoc lecturer at the Post Graduate Department of Zoology. She has published 11 papers in Natonal & two papers in Internatonal journals, and atended several conferences, seminar and workshops. Dr. Nilesh R. Thaokar completed his PhD from Nagpur University and is presently teaching at the Post Graduate Department of Zoology as an Adhoc lecturer. He has published 10 papers in Natonal & two papers in Internatonal journals, and atended several conferences, seminar and workshops. Author Contributon: NRT and PRV contributed in feld work and documentaton of the ovipositon behaviour. RJA set up the project and evaluated the fndings. Acknowledgements: We thank the Principal Dr. Ms. D. R. Christan and Management of Hislop College, Nagpur for providing us laboratory facilites. 11443 Breeding behaviour of Coromandel Marsh Dart Damselfy Thaokar et al. INTRODUCTION MATERIAL AND METHODS Habitat selecton for ovipositon is a vital and complex Site: The observaton and collecton for the present behavior undertaken by odonates, afer the terminaton work was carried out at the botanical garden of Hislop of copulaton. Ovipositon takes place either in water College, Nagpur, (21.160N & 79.030E) where small (aquatc), on foatng plant material (epiphytc), or inside underground cement tubs/tanks are used to grow plant tssue (endophytc). For damselfies, choice of macrophytes (Image 1). There is a large circular tub ovipositng material primarily depends upon “the inital (diameter 105cm) surrounded by six smaller circular tubs preference” which is a suitable place both, for landing (diameter 42cm), followed by a row of three rectangular and easy depositon of egg in the plant tssue (Waage cement containers (84cm x 47cm). Height of the tubs 1987; Martens 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001). Highly varies between two to three feet. Two rectangular stenotopic species oviposit in one or very few species tubs contain foatng L. paucicostata and submerged of plant while eurytopic species may exhibit distnct H. vertcillata while the small circular tubs contain preferences and oviposit in a wide variety of plants H. vertcillata. The single large circular tub contains (Martens 1996). Some odonate species of temperate foatng N. nouchali, small patches of L. paucicostata regions show preferences in selectng plant species or and submerged H. vertcillata (Image 2). The botom of even parts/region of plants for ovipositon (Martens the tubs comprise mud, debris and decaying leaves. C. 1992; Wildermuth 1993; Grunert 1995). coromandelianum is found ovipositng in these tanks all Previously we found that the Coromandel Marsh around the year (except from December to February). Dart Damselfy Ceriagrion coromandelianum (Fabricius, The plant material were collected afer the female had 1798) selects specifc laminar region of the leaf of completed egg depositon and taken to the laboratory for water lily, Nymphaea nouchali f. for ovipositon and investgaton under stereoscope binocular microscope. also reported the existence of a direct co-relaton between the choice of leaf lamina region and the day of ovipositon (Andrew et al. 2011a). In this damselfy, RESULTS we also studied and evaluated the process of contact guarding ovipositon with reference to the male in Ceriagrion coromandelianum is one of the most sentnel positon (Andrew et al. 2011b). In contnuaton common damselfies in the Indian subcontnen t. The with the study of the reproductve biology of this male is bright yellow with olivaceous and pale greenish species, the present paper describes the ovipositon of yellow eyes. The females are initally as bright as the Ceriagrion coromandelianum with reference to choice, males but with maturity turn dull yellow to light brown. inserton and depositon of egg in the aquatc plants The intensity of dullness increases with maturity. It Nymphaea nouchali Burm, f., Hydrilla vertcillata (L.f.) fies among bushes and breeds in stagnant pools and Royde and Lemna paucicostata Hegelm. 6746. small garden tanks, tubs and ornamental cement ponds Image 1. The study site: water tubs at Botanical garden of Hislop College, Nagpur. 11444 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2018 | 10(3): 11443–11449 Breeding behaviour of Coromandel Marsh Dart Damselfy Thaokar et al. Table 1. Ceriagrion coromandelianum - number of ovipositng females on diferent