Critically Endangered
Megalagrion leptodemas
Megalagrion leptodemas
Megalagrion leptodemas, commonly referred to as the crimson Hawaiian damselfly, is one of the rarest and most endangered Megalagrion species that is endemic to the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
Appearance
Like the males, female damselflies are red but have some pale green or gray markings on their body and black covering the top of their abdomen.
The Crimson Hawaiian damselfly is one of the smaller damselflies, growing to about 38 mm (1.5 in) in length with a wingspan of around 40 mm (1.6 in).
Range and habitat
Most immature damselflies are aquatic and inhabit slow-flowing pools and streams, as well as surrounding vegetation until they leave the water to molt into adults. Currently Megalagrion leptodemas is believed to be in only three areas in Oahu, all in the Ko'olau Range. There are currently only three known instances of the crimson Hawaiian damselfly, all from the Ko'olau Mountains in the lowland wet and wet cliff ecosystems at Moanalua, north Halawa, and Ma'akua.
Megalagrion leptodemas, commonly referred to as the crimson Hawaiian damselfly, is one of the rarest and most endangered Megalagrion species that is endemic to the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The crimson Hawaiian damselfly was one of the species included in the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Recovery Plan, released in July 2018, for the island of Oahu.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Megalagrion leptodemas breeds in slow-flowing streams and small pools. Once the eggs have been laid both adults will stay close to the breeding pools.
During this nymph stage the damselflies breathe through abdominal gills, and feed on small invertebrates and fish. Even after becoming adults, damselflies often stay close to their early aquatic habitat.
In crisis
It is currently labeled as endangered by the ESA and critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. The species is threatened by habitat loss and non-native species. Megalagrion leptodemas was last seen in the late 1990's, so there are no concrete population estimates available.
However it is probable that there are less than 1,000 individuals remaining. Based on previous surveys the existing populations of this damselfly have been reduced significantly, with only 10 males or less per 100m of stream edge in all localities.
Megalagrion leptodemas is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Megalagrion leptodemas, Wikidata item Q1307011. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
