Abstract
A total of 12 taxa of odonata of nine Anisoptera and three Zygoptera were recorded during kharif 2000 in an irrigated rice field of Madurai. Among anisopteranus, four species, Pantala flavescens (Fabricius), Diplocodes trivialis (Ramber) Crocothemis servilia (Drury) and Tramea limbata (Desjardins) were dominat. Among zygopterans, Agriocnemis femina femina Brauer was the dominant species recorded in weeded and partially weeded ecosystems. The four species of dragonflies and one species of damselfly had compratively more aundance in partially weeded rice ecosystem than in weeded rice ecosystem. Rare species like Orthetrum sabina (Drury) Rhyothemis variegata (Linnaeus), Neurothemis tullia (Drury), Anax guttatus (Burmeister) and Trithemis sp. with fewer individuals occurred only at the tillering stage of crop growth.