2009 Annual DSA Meeting Registration Form

The overarching goal of the U.S. Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy is to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered or declining to levels where recovery becomes impossible. Success of this campaign depends on establishing Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in a wildlife action plan specific to each state. Insects and other invertebrates are underrepresented as SGCN in many of these plans, including even the charismatic microfauna like Odonata. Although two-thirds of distinct Odonata species known from the U.S. (ca. 2005) were appointed as SGCN, over a third were assigned in just one state and exactly half the states neglected to assign dragonfly SGCN, damselfly SGCN, or both. To improve the situation, some states may need to recast their SGCN selection process, which was meant to be non-regulatory, highly adaptive, and permissibly imperfect (allow uncertainty). We encourage greater solicitation of and participation by odonatists, and compile some key literature and conservation lists that may help with choosing SGCN. Other recommendations include species distribution modeling and more focus on endemism and core range. A plea of bnot enough informationb is often used to help justify perfunctory invertebrate conservation. But with regards to the Odonata, we think rapidly expanding information on speciesb distributions, combined with local field experience and knowledge of pertinent threats, should enable reasonable working hypotheses about the state-level conservation status of many species.

The status and distribution of Orthemis schmidti Buchholz is examined with photos, DNA tree, and specimens from Bolivia to Florida. The Odonata of Grenada is examined with an intensive survey of existing habitats and a current species list.

Genetic studies are a component of the Recovery Plan for Hinebs Emerald Dragonfly (HED). During population surveys from 2002-2008, 45 samples were collected from 15 localities in Missouri for genetic analysis. DNA sequence data from these samples was combined with data from previous genetic research on HED populations throughout the speciesb range. Analyses of the mitochondrial protein-coding gene ND3 found genetic variability within populations as well as genetic variants shared among populations suggesting both historic and more recent movement among sites by HED. Previous genetic research indicated hybridization among Somatochlora species in Missouri. Nuclear ITS-1 and ITS-2 regions were sequenced to confirm identities based on morphology and mtDNA data and to examine the frequency of hybridization among co-occurring HED, Clamp-tipped Emerald (S. tenebrosa), and Mocha Emerald (S. linearis). Preliminary results suggest hybridization at more than one site in Missouri.

The known Odonata fauna of the West Indies at present stands at 112 species. These species comprise many wide-ranging neotropical species, a set of endemics (including five endemic genera), and a few visitors from North America. Present-day biogeography indicates that the fauna reached the islands from either northern South America, the Yucatan Peninsula, or Florida, with subsequent endemics evolving from these invasions.