‘Accompanying’ behaviour of Brachythemis leucosticta (Burmeister) in Europe (Anisoptera: Libellulidae)

At a location in southern Spain (nr Vejer de la Frontera, Rio Barbate valley, Andalusia), observations were made on a local population of ca 40 B. leucostica individuals, a sp, known for its inclination to accompany large mammals (the test subject was a human). The goal of the tests was to ascertain how far they are willing to accompany a large mammal, whether the size of the group has an influence on the distance for accompanying the subject and whether the accompaniment differs between sexes. Accompanying a person was recorded in 53 cases, involving 41 S and 83 $ dragonflies. They generally flew at a height of 10-50 cm above the ground in front of the moving person, distributed in a semicircle with a radius of 1-2 m (the maximum observed group size was 11 dragonflies). Group size did not influence the flight range of the last individual or the detachment of the first individual from the group, as the dragonflies broke away at random. The average distance of accompaniment by 5 2 (38.4 m) was further than that by d 6 (23.9 m). The maximum path of accompaniment was 89 m for 6 6 and 111 m for $ 9. After detaching from the person, the dragonflies returned to the shade. Only rarely did $ ? settle on open pasture, and then just for a brief period. In 3 cases (i.e. 1.6%), hunting of prey stirred up from the pasture by the person was observed.