Odonata Diversity in Thadiyankudisai, Palni Hills of Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu

Abstract A total of 419 individuals under 5 families, 8 genera and 10 species of Odonata were recorded in the present study. Among them family Libellulidae had 6 species followed by Chlorocyphidae (2 species), and Coenagrionidae and Euphaeidae had1 species. The dominance order of Odonata was Pantala flavescens (44.40%) > Diplacodes trivialis (22.70%) > Orthetrum chrysis (7.40%) while rest of the fauna ranged from (1.40 to 6.90%). Pantala flavescens was maximum during NEM (50.0%) followed by summer and winter (43.8% each) and minimum during SWM (38.5%). Margalef Index of Species Richness was highest (2.00) during winter. Simpson Index of Diversity was highest (0.75) during SWM while Shannon-Wiener Index of Dominance was highest (1.75) during summer. The species were evenly distributed during summer with Pielou’s Evenness Index value of 0.76. The community change was 80.00 per cent change during January, 2018 and had a steep fall in February and April, 2018 and reached a peak of 66.67 per cent during March and November, 2018.