‘Accompanying’ behaviour as a means of prey acquisition by Brachythemis leucosticta (Burmeister) and other Anisoptera

Adults of the pan-African sympetrine B. leucosticta often accompany large vertebrates moving slowly through open grassland or, less often, through shallow water. Such ‘accompanying’ behaviour, which is shown by solitary individuals and groups, males and females, and immature and mature adults, varies with respect to wind direction and substrate in ways that indicate that the vertebrate is usually perceived as a token stimulus attracting the dragonflies to places where small flying insects are rendered accessible as prey. Certain and probable examples of accompanying behaviour in other Anisoptera are discussed.