Changes in the number of eggs loaded in Pantala flavescens females with age from mass flights (Odonata: Libellulidae).

Abstract

The wandering glider dragonfly Pantala flavescens migrates to Japan every spring, where the population increases until autumn, in which mass flights often occur, followed by death in the winter. There have been no reports to date on the maturation process of this species throughout its lifespan in Japan. We collected females from mass flights when the flight height was low, and classified them into seven age stages by examining their wing condition. Very few females of the older stage were collected from the mass flights. The wing condition corresponded with the change in body color and with the egg production process in the ovaries. While pre-reproductive-stage females did not release eggs when treated with our artificial oviposition technique, each reproductive-stage female released about 640 eggs. Nearly all eggs released were fertilized. The ovaries developed with the stage, and reproductive-stage females had about 1100 ovarioles. The estimated maximum fecundity was about 29,000 eggs. The lifetime number of eggs laid of P. flavescens should be revealed by dissection.