A preliminary checklist of odonates in Kerala Agricultural University ( KAU ) campus , Thrissur District , Kerala , southern India

A study was conducted to document the species diversity of Odonata (Insecta) of the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) campus, Thrissur, Kerala, southern India. A total of 52 species including 36 species of Anisoptera (dragonflies) and 16 species of Zygoptera (damselflies) were recorded during the one year long study. The study reported two Near Threatened species such as Heliogomphus promelas and Indothemis carnatica.

The order Odonata, which comprise of dragonflies and damselflies are one of the fascinating groups of insects.Because of their amphibious life history, relatively short generation time, high trophic position, and diversity, odonates are considered as an important component of freshwater ecosystems as well as good indicators of ecosystem health (Corbet 1993;Clark & Samways 1996).There are numerous studies from the world, which have documented that odonates respond to anthropogenic activity and thus may serve as useful indicators of habitat quality in terms of species occurrence and distribution (Kadoya et al. 2004;Flenner & Sahlen 2008).Globally 5,952 species of odonates have been reported, of which 474 species in 142 genera and 18 families are known from India (Subramanian 2014).Western Ghats has 174 species of odonates (Subramanian et al. 2011), while 154 species of odonates have been reported from Kerala (Kiran & Raju 2011, 2013).Fraser in his three volume treatises (1933, 1934 & 1936) on the odonates of the Indian subcontinent gave a detailed account of the odonates of Kerala also.The odonate fauna of Kerala is well documented, some of the prominent works include Peters (1981), Rao & Lahiri (1982), Prasad (1987), Mathavan & Miller (1989), Radhakrishnan (1997), Emiliyamma & Radhakrishnan (2000, 2002), Palot et al. (2002), Subramanian & Sivaramakrishnan (2002), Radhakrishnan & Emiliyamma (2003), Emiliyamma et al. (2005), Subramanian (2005Subramanian ( , 2007)), Kiran & Raju (2011, 2013) which provided information regarding the status and distribution of odonates in different parts of Kerala.
Study area: The Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) main campus is located at Vellanikkara, Thrissur District, Kerala (Fig. 1).The area lies between 10 0 32'-10 0 33'N and 76 0 16'-76 0 17'E, with an average altitude of 50m.KAU campus is located very close to the Peechi-Vazhani Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats, the aerial distance of which is not more than 5km.The campus has a total area of 391.44ha and the major habitats include garden lands, botanical garden, plantations of rubber, coconut, plantain, cocoa and orchards of mango, jack, sapota and guava.The campus is also enriched with various aquatic habitats like ponds, marshes, paddy fields, tanks etc. (Appendix 1).KAU campus enjoys a moderate climate.The last 10 year mean minimum temperature is 23.3 0 C and 10 year mean maximum of 31.8 0 C. The area receives south-west and north-east monsoons, the greater portion of the rainfall, however is received from the south-west monsoon between June and September.The mean annual rainfall is 2,763mm.The mean number of rainy days per year is 110 days (KAU weather station odonates is given in Fig. 2  The odonates of the Kerala Agricultural throughout the campus to cover all the habitats. A total of 52 species of odonata including Agricultural University main campus, Thrissur, Kerala (3sp.) and Gomphidae (3sp.).Among the Zygoptera  have reported 135 species of birds (Nameer et al. 2000) and 139 species of butterflies (Aneesh et al. 2013).This is quite significant and thus emphasizing importance of university campuses in biodiversity conservation.
and Fig. 3. common, 10 very common, seven rare and one very Orthetrum sabina (Drury, 1770) and Common Picture Wing Rhyothemis variegata Copera marginipes common ones.The odonate diversity did not vary much the study period (Fig. 4). of odonates from Kerala.The present study on the odonates of KAU main campus revealed the presence Earlier studies on the Kerala odonates from other 2002; Emiliyamma 2005; Emiliyamma et al. 2005).The higher species diversity of odonates in KAU campus 2012).
n ag ri o n id ae C h lo ro cy p h id ae C al o p te ry gi d ae P la ty cn e m id id ae E u p h ae id ae

Table 1 . Checklist of odonates recorded from Kerala Agricultural University campus, Thrissur, Kerala
KAU main campus in conserving the biodiversity of the region.Earlier studies on the fauna of KAU main campus