Dragonfly India meet
-Nazneen Siddique
Dragonfly India meet is a get together for like minded professional and enthusiastic people who observe and study Dragonflies.
The yearly meet started from Nagpur in 2014. 2nd meet was at Thattekad Kerala in 2015, 3rd meet Gorumara National Park in northern West Bengal, and the recent 4th meet was in Goa 201. I feel myself lucky to be in touch with the group from it’s 3rd
meet. It’s a wonderful group with experts and professional from the field of scientific studies.
This is an amazing experience for me to be part of the meet and world of dragonfly which is not famous as other mammals, animals or birds and butterflies, but it is equally, if not more important than others.
Dragonfly: what is dragonfly? why we are talking about dragonfly why are we discussing about dragonfly, why this small insect is important for our big world, this question came to my mind as well and I am sure you all would be going through the same while
reading this text. Let me first tell you what is dragonfly and its importance to nature. Dragonflies and Damselflies are also referred as Odonata in the scientific world.
Malabar Torrent Dart (Euphaea fraseri) “
Dragonfly is a small, fast flying insect, which can be seen during monsoon season easily. Commonly it is called helicopter by many. This small insect is an indicator of fresh water, rain prediction, controlling of macro insects such as mosquitoes, and
some common and critical diseases such as dengue and malaria. Now you know how important are the dragonflies.
Dragonfly India meet aim is to join as many people as we can for spreading the awareness of importance of dragonfly. Identification, Habitat and Conservation of dragonflies are discussed in these meets.
During the recent meet at Goa there were many researchers and experts working on the species specific to scientific research. Some student participants were also part of the meet. We can refer them as future scientist currently pursuing degrees or doctorate
from different region of the country not limited to India only. Apart from expert lectures, we had field trips and photography of dragonfly and damselflies along with knowledge about the right habitat. This also included information about the endemic species
of western Ghats.
The meet was from 15-19 September 2017. There was symposium session, poster session, field trips, public talks, with expert’s view on dragonfly. During this meet I have learned a lot about identification and behavior of dragonfly and damselflies.
Some of the interesting species spotted were Spine-tufted skimmer (Orthetreum Chrysis), Pied parasol (Neurothemis tullia), Crimson marsh glider (Trithemis aurora), Black stream glider (Trithemis festiva), The slender skimmer or green marsh hawk (Orthetium
Sabina).
A group photo of participants