LIFE HISTORY OF AN ENDANGERED DRAGONFLY, NANNOPHYA PYGMAEA RAMBUR, IN KOREA (ANISOPTERA: LIBELLULIDAE)

Abstract

Aspects of the N. pygmaea life history, an endangered sp. in Korea, were studied at an abandoned paddy field in Mungyeong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea. The larvae were sampled quantitatively at monthly intervals (every 2 weeks during the emergence period) from June 2006 to July 2007 and the adults were counted via a line-transect method. Based on the analyses of larval body length distribution, degree days(DD), and emergence time, the sp. is considered univoltine with an emergence period from mid-May to early August. The estimated sum of the thermal amount, effective to larval development during the study period, was 2468 DD. The relationship between the larval head width and wingsheath width, which is coincident with the temperature fluctuation pattern, shows that the population harbors at least 4 size groups (cohorts) in a generation.