Fecundity and oviposition pattern in the damselfly Copera annulata (Selys) (Zygoptera: Platycnemididae)

In order to determine the fecundity and the number of eggs deposited, females were captured in field, dissected and classified into 7 age classes. The period of maiden flight (4 age classes) was estimated in a laboratory-reared population as 19 days. Change in the bursa copulatrix volume of mature females suggests sperm displacement. The mature egg size decreases with female age. Egg maturation appears to occur mainly in the pre-mature period. Not counting the immature eggs, the numbers of mature and submature eggs (fecundity) were estimated to be 300 and 150, resp. However, the difference in the mature egg number between females at the beginning and at the end of the mature period was about 250, which may be the actual life span reproductive performance. This is about half the estimate obtained by dissection.