| Autor: |
BURWELL, CHRISTOPHER J., POWER, NARELLE P., WHITE, DAMIAN |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Australian Entomologist; 2023, Vol. 50 Issue part3, p206-220, 15p |
| Abstrakt: |
Parthenogenesis, reproduction by females via unfertilised gametes, is widespread in insects but there is only one documented example among the Odonata. Ischnura hastata (Say) (Coenagrionidae) reproduces sexually across its wide range in the Americas from southern Canada to Brazil but has parthenogenetic populations comprising only females in the Azores islands in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Recent circumstantial evidence suggests that the Australian damselfly Agriocnemis rubricauda Tillyard may also have sexual and parthenogenetic populations. The distribution of A. rubricauda was mapped and the monthly occurrence of males and females of A. rubricauda collated based on specimens in collections, our own photographic records and collections from extensive searches in south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales and other photographic records submitted to iNaturalist. There appears to be a substantial gap in the range of A. rubricauda in coastal Queensland, with northern records from the Top End of the Northern Territory and Queensland wet tropics, and southern records from southern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales. Male A. rubricauda are known only from the northern part of the range where there are similar numbers of records of males and females. Only females are known from the southern range where there are records of more than 320 individuals including 41 specimens in museum collections. Despite an estimated 96 person-hours of search effort across eleven locations in south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales we encountered only females. In the northern and southern parts of the range, A. rubricauda adults have been recorded across most and all months of the year, respectively. We explore several explanations for the lack of males in the southern range and suggest that the most plausible explanation is that southern females are able to reproduce via parthenogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
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