Armageddon Reedtail

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Overview:

Recently, researchers from MIT-World Peace University from Pune discovered a new damselfly species in Kerala’s southern Western Ghats and named it as Armageddon reedtail’.

About Armageddon Reedtail:

  • The species was discovered northeast of Thiruvananthapuram.
  • Features: It has a captivating dark brown to black body with vibrant greenish-blue eyes, and half of its eight abdominal segments are marked with delicate pale blue markings.
  • Its only habitat is primary montane streams, where it thrives beneath dense canopy cover.
  • The name, Armageddon Reedtail, is a direct reference to the concept of “Ecological Armageddon”, a term used to describe the devastating decline of insect populations around the world.
  • Threat: This species faces the threat of extinction due to habitat loss and changing environmental conditions.

 

Key facts about damselfly

  • These are insects in the suborder Zygoptera (meaning “paired-wings”). 
  • These are found mainly near shallow, freshwater habitats and are graceful fliers with slender bodies and long, filmy, net-veined wings.
  • These are generally smaller, more delicate, and fly weakly in comparison with dragonflies. 
  • Female damselflies normally use a bladelike ovipositor to place eggs inside plant tissue.
  • In many species of Damselflies adults change colour as they mature.

 


Q1) What is ovipositor?

An ovipositor is a specialized reproductive organ found in some female insects, particularly those belonging to the order Hymenoptera, which includes bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies. The primary function of an ovipositor is to deposit eggs into a suitable substrate, such as the ground, plant tissue, or the body of another organism

Source: Damselfly species found in Western Ghats named after climate impact on insects