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The hand of man or Santa Rosalia’s blessing? A rebuttal of the paper “on the restoration of the relict population of a dragonfly Urothemis edwardsii Selys (Libellulidae: Odonata) in the Mediterranean”

Journal of Insect Conservation volume 22, pages 345–350 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

The intentional reintroduction and translocation of animals and plants has, over the last few decades, become an integral part of the panoply of conservation tools. In a recent published paper in J. Insect Conserv. (doi: 10.1007/s10841-016-9911-9), Khelifa et al. (2016) claimed to have restored the last relict population of Urothemis edwardsii (Selys) in the Mediterranean. Here, I provide evidence that their claims are unwarranted, and that what has occured is a natural process of colonisation by a Critically Endangered population which was confined to a single known site. In addition to several inaccuracies contained in the paper, I will demonstrate that the work was inappropriate and question the adopted methodology that may imperil the type population of U. edwardsii. I urge for the translocation initiative to be discontinued and discuss other safe approaches that may benefit the newly expanding population.

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Acknowledgements

We are most grateful to three anonymous referees for their helpful comments. This work has been supported by the International Research Group Program (IRG16-29), Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the Algerian Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique (MESRS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Annaba, Annaba, Algeria

    Boudjéma Samraoui

  2. Laboratoire de Conservation des Zones Humides, University of Guelma, Guelma, Algeria

    Boudjéma Samraoui

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  1. Boudjéma Samraoui
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Samraoui, B. The hand of man or Santa Rosalia’s blessing? A rebuttal of the paper “on the restoration of the relict population of a dragonfly Urothemis edwardsii Selys (Libellulidae: Odonata) in the Mediterranean”. J Insect Conserv 22, 345–350 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-017-9966-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-017-9966-2

Keywords

  • Conservation
  • Natural colonisation
  • Dragonflies
  • Odonata
  • Translocation
  • Reintroduction
  • Urothemis edwardsii