Head damage due to mating in Ophiogomphus dragonflies (Anisoptera: Gomphidae)

Damage to the compound eyes of some female Aeshnidae and Gomphidae by the male epiproct during mating attempts has been noted by several authors (references in S.W. DUNKLE, 1979, Odonatologica 8: 123-127). The maximum injury in these cases was the denting of the lenses of perhaps 50 ommatidia in each compound eye. The head damage here reported in Ophiogomphus is nearly the maximum possible to imagine and still allow the female to live. The heads of all available dried specimens of female Ophiogomphus were examined at SOX. These were from the Bick, Daigle, Dunkle, and Knopf Collections, and the Florida State Collection of Arthropods.