Clapper~
Lemme see...
gonna take a look at these questions and see which
ones i can answer.
I know it probably just in my interpretation.
I'm curious how you really can tell the difference.
actually, there may be a little of what you've described...
a bit of a different look between males and females
dragon and damselflies.
one thing i can tell you is that their behaviour is very different.
male dragonflies are very territorial and stake out their
own sections of river shoreline, or a part of a creek.
they usually find a "perch" that allows them to watch
over their territory, and they either sit on their perch
watching for intruders, or patrol the area, engaging
in dogfight behaviour if they spot another male cruising
into their territory.
males are usually much showier in coloration -- much as is
seen in birds. that's one of the ways that you can tell
males from females in many species. for example, in the
Ebony Jewelwings, the females are black with a dull bronze
shading, and have black wings with white stigmas (little
white marks on each wing). Males have no white stigmas
and their body colour ranges from metallic blue to metallic green.
Are they cousins to the damsel fly?
Ebony Jewelwings are actually damselflies, but one of the
largest in size. They are "Broad-winged damsels" (genus Calopteryx).
Most damselflies which you see are probably blue and are
either Bluets, Forktails or Spreadwings (smaller species).
P.S. I saw a few dragon flies while fishing at the creek the
other day. I thought they were early. Would they typically
still be in some sort of nymph stage?
There are a large number of species of dragonflies.
most species have a fairly specific time when they emerge.
some are early spring, most are summer, and a handful are
autumn dragons. at this time of the year, Chalk-fronted Corporals
are probably the most plentiful species in your area.
Dragonfly larvae go through about 8 to 16 molts of their
exoskeleton while in their aquatic state. Some go through
their larval stage in a couple of months, but some species
take years to reach the final stage before leaving the
water to emerge as dragonflies.
I remember as a kid being so afraid of dragon flies. So silly
to think they bit and breathed fire... <g> <ng>
When I was a kid, some older relative told me that they
were called "darners" because they would sew your lips
shut if they got near you. That made me a little afraid
of them for awhile. It's too bad some adults seem to get
a bit of a kick out of scaring kids with silly stories.
Often it seems to "stick" and make kids afraid of insects
and spiders for years.
Whenever I see dragon flies now I think of this song by
Ziggy Marley from his CD that came out last year.
Liked the song! and much of the lyrics very true.
~croc |
