Dr. D. (Dirk) Gassmann

Phylogeny, biogeography and evolutionary biology of damselflies (Zygoptera, Odonata)

E-mail: dirk.gassmann@ncbnaturalis.nl
Phone: 0031-71-5687600
Room Number: [Photo: P. Naskrecki]

Research Associate

Leiden University

and National Museum of Natural History (Naturalis)

P.O. Box 9517

NL-2300 RA Leiden

The Netherlands

Research interests

My current main activities include

Conservation International Rapid Biodiversity Assessment of the Nakanai Mountains, New Britain (Papua New Guinea). Taxon: Odonata. Fieldwork April/May 2009 (finished). Currently evaluation of results.
IDF - Project: 'Revisions of Indo-Pacific Zygoptera - current taxonomical and biogeographical problems in Philippine and New Guinean taxa' (funded by International Dragonfly Fund)
Electron microscopic work on platycnemidid, protoneurid, coenagrionid, megapodagrionid and libellulid dragonflies (Odonata): functional morphology of the male copulatory apparatus, and phylogenetic implications
Popular science writing for Dutch and German newspapers and magazines
Research for Naturalis exhibition 'Expeditie Darwin': recently finished.

My research interests may be summarized by the terms ‚origins and maintenance of biodiversity‘. Major research lines include:

1. Phylogenetic systematics of zygopteran damselflies (Odonata, Zygoptera)

Our knowledge of the phylogeny of the suborder Zygoptera is still incomplete, and the monophyly of several families is not well founded. Morphological characters beyond those which are used in taxonomic revisions have been largely neglected. Including the increasing amount of molecular data, we should be able now to elucidate the phylogeny of critical taxa as the Coenagrionidea. My interest in the Southeast Asian damselfly subfamily Calicnemiinae continues to exist. Further alpha-taxonomic and phylogenetic studies of the genus Asthenocnemis Lieftinck, which plays a key role in calicnemiine historical biogeography, are in progress.

2. Biogeography of Southeast Asia, and of New Guinea in particular

Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea

I mainly focuss on macroevolutionary patterns and processes, especially the relationships between cladogenesis and historical vicariance/dispersal events, and their consequences for the evolution of single groups of organisms as well as entire biotas. In this context, I am interested in the different schools of historical biogeography, in particular in the power and in the limits of 'area cladistic' studies. Currently, I am further elaborating the taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of Odonates from the Malesian region, in particular from New Guinea and the Philippines. My work on New Guinea insects currently focusses on the description of new taxa from the recent expeditions of Conservation International and others, as well as on further elucidating the biogeographic role of the Inner-Melanesian-Arc terrains.

Nososticta commutata Photos: D. Gassmann

Nososticta commutata, New Britain

Idiocnemis kimminsi

Idiocnemis kimminsi, couple, New Britain

Pseudagrion silaceum

Pseudagrion silaceum, couple, Morobe Province

Neurobasis kimminsi

Neurobasis australis, Morobe Province

dragonfly_larva

Dragonfly larva. Odonate larval stages live in aquatic habitats.

3. Functional morphology, morphometrics and reproductive strategies in insects

During my scanning electron microscopic studies, I became intrigued by the structural and functional diversity of the male damselfly ligula. Genital structures in the Odonata are the result of both inter- and intrasexual selection pressures. However, how these forces interact and to what degree is still poorly understood. Studying those structures across a wide range of taxa and comparing them with the reproductive behaviour of the respective species will provide new insights into the evolution of species. These large-scaled comparative studies, also including the poorly studied female gender, are one of my foremost interests for the reseach time to come. Also single-species-hypotheses should be tested applying morphometric tools on reproductive traits. Ultimately, one could reach a point where we can predict the mating system and the behavioural ecology of a certain species based on the genital morphology only.

Link to:

DAWN - Damselfly workers at Naturalis

Publications

Naturalis Repository

Research papers

Gassmann, D., 2011. Pseudagrion lorenzi sp. nov., a new damselfly species from New Britain island, Papua New Guinea (Odonata, Coenagrionidae). International Journal of Odonatology 14(2): 149-162.

Gassmann, D. & Richards, S. J., 2011. Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) of the Nakanai Mountains, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. In: Richards, S. J. & Gamui, B. G.: Rapid Biological Assessments of the Nakanai Mountains and the Upper Strickland Basin. Surveying the biodiversity of Papua New Guinea's sublime karst environments. RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment 60. Conservation International, Arlington.

Gassmann, D. & Richards, S. J., 2008. Description of Idiocnemis patriciae spec. nov. from Papua New Guinea, with new distributional records of other Idiocnemis species. Zoologische Mededelingen 82 (7): 581-593. Pdf

Gassmann, D. & Hämäläinen, M., 2008. Asthenocnemis linnaei, a new damselfly species from Dumaran Island, Philippines (Odonata, Platycnemididae). Zoologische Mededelingen 82(5): 35-41. Pdf

Gassmann, D., 2007. Die Ligula der Kleinlibellen im Rasterelektronenmikroskop - Morphologische Strukturen und evolutionsbiologische Bedeutung. MIKROKOSMOS - Zeitschrift für Mikroskopie 96(7): 183-187. [in German]

Gassmann, D., 2005. The phylogeny of Southeast Asian and Indo-Pacific Calicnemiinae (Odonata:Platycnemididae). Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 53(1/2): 37-80. Pdf

Gassmann, D. & Hämäläinen, M., 2002. A revision of the Philippine subgenus Risiocnemis (Igneocnemis) Hämäläinen (Odonata: Platycnemididae). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 145(2): 213-266. Pdf

Gassmann, D., 2000. Revision of the Papuan Idiocnemis bidentata - species-group (Odonata:Platycnemididae). Zoologische Mededelingen 74(23): 375-402. Pdf

Gassmann, D., 1999. Taxonomy and distribution of the inornata species-group of the Papuan genus Idiocnemis Selys, 1878 (Odonata: Zygoptera: Platycnemididae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 13(6): 977-1005. Pdf [low resolution]

Von Vaupel Klein, J. C. & Gassmann, D., 1998. Character phylogenies in Candacia and Paracandacia (Copepoda, Calanoida) and the inevitably paraphyletic nature of many nominal taxa above subspecies level. Journal of Marine Systems 15: 441-449. Pdf

Gassmann, D., Hille, A. & Naumann, C. M., 1998. Morphological and morphometric investigations within a geographical contact zone between Zygaena angelicae Ochsenheimer, 1808, and Zygaena transalpina hippocrepidis (Hübner, [1799]) (Lepidoptera, Zygaenidae) in southern Germany. In: Tremewan, W. G., Wipking, W. & Naumann, C. M. (Eds.): Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on the Biology of the Zygaenidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera), Grietherbusch (Germany), 10-12 September 1993. Theses Zoologicae 30: 89-104.

Gassmann, D., Hille, A. & Naumann, C. M., 1994. Morphometrische Variation in der Kontaktzone zweier Semispezies des Zygaena transalpina -Komplexes (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae). Proceedings of the German Zoological Society 87.1 (Short Communications): 223.

Book chapters

Tol, J. van & Gassmann, D., 2007. Zoogeography of freshwater invertebrates of Southeast Asia, with special reference to Odonata. In: Renema, Willem (Ed.): Biogeography, Time and Place - Distributions, Barriers and Islands. Topics in Geobiology , Vol. 29. Dordrecht (Springer), pp. 45-91. Link to publisher

Dr. D. (Dirk) Gassmann

Phylogeny, biogeography and evolutionary biology of damselflies (Zygoptera, Odonata)

Research interests

Publications

Research papers

Book chapters

Popular science articles

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