Structure of Odonata populations in the riparian strips of the Bumbu River watershed in Kinshasa /RD Congo

Abstract

The study of the structure of the Odonata populations was undertaken during the dry season 2021, in the watershed of the Bumbu River. After capture with an entomological net, identification and enumeration, 393 individuals were collected and are divided into 2 suborders and 8 families. Several biotic indices were used to study the structure of the population on the one hand, and its diversity on the other. Raw abundance, relative frequency, taxonomic richness, Shannon and Weaver diversity, Jaccard's similarity index, Piélou's equitability and riparian strip quality index were calculated. The evaluation of the biotic indices in the different stations showed that there is a parallelism between them. The Libellulidae family was the most represented with 161 individuals or 40.9% of the total abundance and 15 species. It is followed by the families Lestidae with 97 individuals and 4 species, Coenagrionidae with 87 individuals and 5 species, , Corduliidae with 23 individuals and 3 species, Gomphidae with 15 individuals and 3 species, Platycnemidae with 9 individuals and 2 species, Chlorocyphidae with 6 individuals and 2 species and Calopterygidae with 1 individual and 1 species. The relative abundance of the species Chalcpstephia flavifros, Ceriagrion corallinum, Lestes virgatus, Lestes ictericus and Lestes tridens can be explained by the aquatic vegetation which serves them as perches and shelters.