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"

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.