Abdomen or wings? Comparing two body places for marking in Mesamphiagrion laterale (Odonata: Coenagrionidae)

To assess a marking technique that avoids alteration of wing aspect and thereby reduces the effect of marking on the organisms' behavior, adult individuals of Mesamphiagrion laterale (Selys, 1876) were marked on two body regions and their probability of resighting (PR) was estimated. Marks were placed as irregular spots of turquois, magenta, lime, and orange color. The PR of wing-marked individuals and abdomen-marked individuals was compared. A total PR of 80% was detected. PR was higher when the marks were placed on the abdomen (PR=0.72) than on the wings (PR=0.62), but no significance was found between these recapture rates (chi(2)=0.413). This exercise should be implemented in other odonate species to see the widespread nature of our results.