Intrasexual cannibalism
Our collated observations also represent some cases where individuals of
the same sex act as predator as well as aided as prey. We extracted a
total of 24 cases of Intrasexual cannibalism in Anisoptera (n=9) and
Zygoptera (n=15) and involved 1) males feeding on male conspecifics, and
2) females feeding on female conspecifics. In male-male interactions,
involved individuals were mature in case of Anisoptera, but in Zygoptera
all the involved predators were mature and preys were tenerals. The
male-male intrasexual cannibalism could arise from species recognition
error, male-male competition for mating or an extreme outcome of
territorial dispute. Male-male competition is fierce in odonates, and
morphological and behavioral traits have evolved to benefits individuals
and species in such competition (Khan & Herberstein, 2019; Khan &
Herberstein, 2021). Intrasexual cannibalism in females could stem from
species recognition error, and female-female competition for oviposition
resources. Among the female zygopteran intrasexual cannibalism, we
observed four instances where both the prey and predator were mature,
and interestingly one of the instances involved both the prey and
predator as andromorphic female of Ischnura senegalensis (Fig. 1
e-f). This is possibly due recognition error, or to increase the chances
of matting. As andromorphic females tend to have very less chance of
matting due their male appearance (Hinnekint, 1987).