Diet

• Telebasis filiola is a small predatory damselfly. Adults capture small flying insects and other tiny arthropods, but they can also glean prey directly from vegetation.

• An unusual feeding record from southeastern Mexico documented a female taking a small web-building Leucauge spider from its web, demonstrating that spiders can form part of its diet.

• The aquatic larvae are predators of small aquatic invertebrates and insect larvae.

Range

• Telebasis filiola has a broad Neotropical range extending from Mexico through Central America to Colombia and Venezuela. A detailed review found it widespread and abundant from Mexico to Venezuela.

• The species is therefore appropriate for the Zihuatanejo region of Guerrero.

Habitat

• Telebasis filiola is associated with freshwater wetlands, ponds, marshes, and other areas of quiet or slow-moving water, particularly where abundant emergent and waterside vegetation provides shelter. The documented Mexican spider-predation observation was made at a wetland.

• Around Zihuatanejo, suitable habitat includes seasonal wetlands, ponds, stream margins, marshy areas, and vegetated pools within tropical dry forest and surrounding scrub.

Description

• Telebasis filiola is a very small, slender damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. A taxonomic review examined hundreds of males and described the species as widespread and abundant.

• It has the predominantly red or reddish-orange coloration characteristic of many Telebasis, with darker markings and distinctive terminal abdominal structures. The abdomen is narrow and elongated relative to the small body.

• Males and females are similar in general form, although females are usually less intensely coloured. Its very small size and red coloration help distinguish it from many other Mexican Telebasis species.