Reader Jonathan Wallace sent some lovely photos of dragonflies and damselflies. (Do you know the difference? See here.)
A pair of White-legged Damselflies, Platycnemis pennipes in tandem. The male is clasping the female behind the head with his anal claspers. This position is preliminary to the actual copulation when the female bends her abdomen round underneath to bring her genitalia into contact with the male’s secondary genitalia to be inseminated. The pair then remain in tandem after copulation and during egg laying (an insurance on the male’s part against another male mating with the female before she has laid eggs) so I am not sure if this pair is pre or post copulation.
A male Southern Hawker Dragonfly, Aeshna cyanea:
A male Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura elegans. One of the commonest European damselflies.
A male Orange White-legged Damselfly , Platycnemis acutipennis. This species does not occur in the UK but is endemic to Portugal, Spain and France (this one was photographed in France).
A male Scarce Chaser Dragonfly, Libellula fulva. When freshly emerged, males of this species have an orange abdomen with a longitudinal black stripe but – in common with a number of other dragonfly species, they develop a powdery blue pruinescence as they age. The individual here shows black scraping marks on the abdomen that indicate that it has mated. All Odonata show distinctive copulatory behaviour in which the pair form a wheel or heart shape as the female, with her head clasped by the male, brings her abdomen forward and beneath the male to reach his secondary genitalia. Whilst doing this her legs clasp against his abdomen and rub off some of the powdery coating, thereby creating these scraping marks .
The tandem damselflies: illustrating the very literal essence of the phrase “anal retentive”.
Great pictures! Perhaps the mating damselflies are more likely in post-mating, only b/c the time spent in this tandem position is longer post-mating than pre-mating.
Difference: did not know that – thx for the link!
Excellent pictures of one of my favourite orders of insects. For those of you living in Ireland or Britain there is a great app available from NatureGuides Ltd, “Dragonflies and Damselflies of Britain and Ireland.” For the identification of Odonata it combines the best of both worlds: photographs of each species in its natural habitat, along with colour illustrations of each species together on the same page with similar species to facilitate comparisons. The guide also provides comprehensive coverage of each species, illustrating the differences between male, female and immature forms. Check it out at the App Store.
As I say many times, I really enjoy seeing insects from different parts of the world.
Lovely picture of budding nettle (Urtica sp.) with White-winged Damselflies.
Evolutionary wonders!
Thank you Jonathan Wallace! And JAC for bringing these photos to us.
Thank you, Jonathan! Beautiful shots!