Diet

• Mecistogaster ornata is a highly specialised aerial predator. Adults hunt small flying insects, including flies and other small arthropods, while moving slowly through shaded vegetation and the forest canopy.

• The aquatic naiads are unusual among damselflies because they develop in phytotelmata—small bodies of water held in tree holes, bromeliad leaves, bamboo internodes, and similar plant structures. They prey on small aquatic organisms and insect larvae living in these miniature pools.

Range

• The Lemon-tipped Helicopter has a broad Neotropical distribution from Mexico through Central America and much of South America, reaching Argentina. Mexico represents the northern limit of the species' range.

• Mecistogaster ornata is particularly widespread in Mexico and is more abundant in the tropical dry forests of the Pacific slope than in wetter forests. It occurs in western and southern Mexico, making it an appropriate species for the Zihuatanejo region of Guerrero.

Habitat

• This species is strongly associated with tropical dry and semi-dry forest, although it also occurs in humid lowland forest. Adults are often encountered along forest trails, stream corridors, and sunny openings within otherwise shaded forest.

• Unlike most damselflies, adults spend considerable time in the forest canopy, where they hunt among branches and foliage. Their larvae develop in water-filled cavities in trees, bromeliads, and bamboo rather than in ponds or streams.

• Around Zihuatanejo, it is particularly suited to tropical dry forest containing mature trees, bromeliads and other plants capable of holding small pools of water.

Description

• Mecistogaster ornata is a very large, exceptionally slender damselfly belonging to the helicopter damselflies (Pseudostigmatidae). The abdomen is extremely long and narrow, and the wings are elongated and relatively narrow.

• Its most distinctive feature is the yellow or lemon-coloured patch at the tip of each wing, bordered by a pale whitish area. This gives the species its common name, Lemon-tipped Helicopter.

• The species has an unusually slow, hovering flight, with the four wings capable of moving independently. Adults can appear to hover almost in place before slowly moving through the vegetation.

• The male abdomen is approximately 67–88 mm long, with females measuring about 62–86 mm; hind wings measure roughly 44–61 mm.