What is Agasthyamalai Bambootail?

About Agasthyamalai Bambootail:

• It is a new species of damselfly.
• It is a rare species belonging to the group of bambootails, so named because of their long cylindrical abdomen resembling a bamboo stalk.
• It was discovered from the Agasthyamalai landscape of Western Ghats.
• The only other species in this genus is the Malabar Bambootail (Melanoneura bilineata) which is found in the Coorg-Wayanad landscape of the Western Ghats.
• The members of this genus can be separated from other bambootails by the absence of the anal bridge vein in their wings.
• This genus of damselflies has long black bodies with brilliant blue markings.
• The new species differs from the Malabar Bambootail in the structure of prothorax, anal appendages, and secondary genitalia.

Key Facts about Damselflies:

• Damselfly is any of a group of predatory, aerial insects that are in the order Odonata. 
• Damselflies are found mainly near shallow, freshwater habitats and are graceful fliers with slender bodies and long, filmy, net-veined wings.
• They are generally smaller, more delicate, and fly weakly in comparison with dragonflies.
• The large eyes of damselflies differ from those of dragonflies in that they are always widely separated, rather than close together or touching each other.
• Their colours can be stunningly vivid.
• Wingspans among the 2,600 damselfly species range from 18 mm (0.71 inch) to about 19 cm (7.5 inches) in Megaloprepus caerulatus, a giant damselfly of tropical Central and South America.
• Immature damselflies, called larvae (or sometimes nymphs or naiads), are, with very few exceptions, aquatic predators in freshwater habitats.