| Mecistogaster | |
|---|---|
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| |
| Mecistogaster modesta | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Odonata |
| Suborder: | Zygoptera |
| Family: | Coenagrionidae |
| Genus: | Mecistogaster Rambur, 1842 |
Mecistogaster is a genus of large Neotropical damselflies in the family Coenagrionidae, commonly known as helicopter damsels. There are eleven species distributed from Mexico to Argentina.[1]
Members of this genus have very long abdomens which they use to deposit their eggs in the water-filled rosettes of bromeliads growing on trees in the forest.[2]
Species include:
- Mecistogaster amalia (Burmeister, 1839) – Amalia Helicopter[3]
- Mecistogaster amazonica Sjöstedt, 1918
- Mecistogaster asticta Selys, 1860
- Mecistogaster buckleyi McLachlan, 1881 – Blue-tipped Helicopter[4]
- Mecistogaster jocaste Hagen, 1869
- Mecistogaster linearis (Fabricius, 1776)
- Mecistogaster lucretia (Drury, 1773)
- Mecistogaster martinezi Machado, 1985 (nomen obscurum)
- Mecistogaster modesta Selys, 1860
- Mecistogaster ornata Rambur, 1842 – Ornate Helicopter[5]
- Mecistogaster pronoti Sjöstedt, 1918 – Atlantic Helicopter[6]
