''Libellula angelina'', also known as bekko tombo, is a species of

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

in the family

Libellulidae The skimmers or perchers and their relatives form the Libellulidae, the largest dragonfly family in the world. It is sometimes considered to contain the Corduliidae as the subfamily Corduliinae and the Macromiidae as the subfamily Macromiinae. E ...

, native to China and Japan. It is under threat by rapid loss of the ponds and other small water bodies it uses as habitat, and is currently classified as critically endangered by the IUCN.

Description

The bekko tombo is a golden to rusty-brown dragonfly, with a dark stripe down the centre of the abdomen and a distinctive pattern of dark markings on its wings. Like other members of the family Libellulidae, this dragonfly has a relatively short, broad abdomen, and its body is distinctly shorter than its wingspan.

Distribution and habitat

The bekko tombo occurs in central and northern China, Japan (

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island ...

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), ...

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

and offshore islands) and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

. It inhabits old and stable ponds with moderate plant growth in lowland hill areas. It requires clear, open water in which the

nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...

crawl around in the bottom sediments.

Ecology

The bekko tombo is

univoltine Voltinism is a term used in biology to indicate the number of broods or generations of an organism in a year. The term is most often applied to insects, and is particularly in use in sericulture, where silkworm varieties vary in their voltinism. ...

. It has a larval period of one year. Eggs hatch from May to June, and adults emerge the following spring. There is often fierce competition between males for access to reproductive females. Females typically begin to lay eggs in water immediately after copulation, often guarded by their mate. However, females of some species can store live sperm in their body for a number of days.

Threats and Conservation

The bekko tombo has experienced drastic declines in recent decades, mostly driven by the continuing disappearance of its required breeding habitats, old and stable ponds with vegetated borders. Introduced predators such as the

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, b ...

(''Micropterus salmoides'') have also had an impact. The species has been protected in Japan since 1993, and efforts by various

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

s are ongoing to preserve and reconstitute suitable breeding habitats. Current population is estimated at less than 5,000 individuals, and the species has been classified as critically endangered by the IUCN.

References

Libellulidae Odonata of Asia Insects of Korea Insects described in 1883 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{libellulidae-stub