DISCUSSION
Cannibalism is an intriguing natural phenomenon that occurs in many
insect groups. We documented the incidence of cannibalism in adult
odonates from our field work and from previously published literature.
Our findings showed that cannibalism occurs in both dragonflies and
damselflies and across several families. We further assessed sexes and
developmental stages involved in cannibalism in odonates and found that
sexes and developmental stages involved in cannibalism varied between
Anisoptera and Zygoptera. We found significant difference of involvement
of males and females in cannibalism in both Anisoptera and Zygoptera,
females were most likely to act as cannibal compared to males.
Similarly, pattern of cannibalism across developmental stages also
varied between Anisoptera and Zygoptera. In Zygoptera, mature
individuals were primarily cannibals preying on tenerals, however, in
Anisoptera such pattern was absent. Following categories of adult
odonata cannibalism are discussed here, 1) Females cannibalizing males,
2) males cannibalizing females, 3) intrasexual cannibalism and, 4)
mature individuals cannibalizing tenerals (Supplementary Table 1- 4).