Status, diversity and conservation threats of Odonates in Kundavada Lake, Davanagere district, Karnataka, India

A study on diversity of odonates was conducted at Kundavada Lake located in Davanagere District of Karnataka. The study was conducted to explore status, diversity and conservation threats of Odonata from October 2010 to September 2011. During the study period, a total of 32 species of Odonates in 24 genera belonging to 6 families have been reported. Among them the order-Anisoptera (Dragonflies) dominated with 23 (72%) species, followed by the Zygoptera (damselflies) with 9 (28%) species. The family Libellulidae dominated with 19 species among the Anisoptera. Among the Zygoptera, the family Coenagrionidae was found to be the dominant with 6 species and least by the Lestidae with 1 species. Based on the frequency of occurrence of odonates, 37% of the species were common, 22% were occasional, 19% were very common, 16% were rare and 6% were very rare. The study highlights the importance of odonates and threats in their habitat due to different anthropogenic activities and also provides the baseline data on Odonate diversity of some major wetlands of Davanagere District of Karnataka state for research on their biology and the conservation.