| Summary: | In Libellulidae there are two types of egg-laying behaviour, non-contact guarding where the male accompany the female during oviposition and tandem guarding where the male is physically coupled with the female. These egg laying strategies also shows differences in egg size distribution and egg size. In species which perform non-contact guarding the egg size is inversely proportionate to the order of laying. In tandem species on the other hand, the egg size is more randomly distributed and the eggs are slightly larger than in non-contact species. To see if there is a difference in the female internal reproductive organs between the two guarding types, the ovariole number was counted. The result shows that species which perform tandem guarding during oviposition have a fewer number of ovarioles compared to the non-contact species. This difference in ovariole number was also species specific. Increasing impact on ecosystems, the survival of dragonflies or any other insects can no longer be taken for granted. Therefore can this information be valuable in conservation biology when new habitats are created for preservation of species.
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