Mecistogaster

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]

Mecistogaster
Mecistogaster modesta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Suborder:	Zygoptera
Family:	Coenagrionidae
Genus:	Mecistogaster Rambur, 1842

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]