Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly?
Location: Coastal SC
June 26, 2011 3:37 pm
Walked out on my back deck and found this dragonfly having lunch. He was so into his meal that he stayed put long enough for me to go back inside for the camera. I did a quick look online and saw that it looks like an Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly.
Signature: Lisa Ski
Eastern Pondhawk eats Fly
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for taking the time to self identify your Eastern Pondhawk, Erythemis simplicicollis. When we checked on BugGuide, we found the examples of males that are turning blue to match your individual who appears to be feasting on a Fly.
What is this water bug?
Location: Traverse City, MI in a small, inland lake
June 17, 2011 1:47 pm
My son and I spotted this bug swimming in a small, inland lake, in Traverse City, Michigan. It was nearly 2 inches long. When it swam, it tucked its legs along its side and seemed to suck in water and jet it out its back side to propel itself through the water. Any ideas?
Signature: Mat Lardman
Dragonhunter Naiad
Hi Mat,
It is a generally accepted tradition to call aquatic larvae of flying insects by the name Naiads. This is a Dragonfly Naiad, and more specifically, it is the naiad of a Dragonhunter, Hagenius brevistylus, a large Dragonfly that often preys upon other Dragonflies. Here is a photo from BugGuide to compare. Dragonhunter Naiads are stealth hunters that lie unnoticed among fallen leaves at the bottom of stillwater ponds.
Many thanks for your response. My kids will get a kick out of this. My 10 year old is in Bug Anatomy for his School’s Science Olympiad Team. I told him I though it was the early stage of a Dragon Fly, He thought it was a beetleJ Thanks again.
Mat
1
dragon eats damsel
Jun 8, 2011
Hey there, bug-nuts!
I was just out photographing damsel and dragonflies when this happened:
A Midland Clubtail dragonfly came whipping by and took down an Ebony Jewelwing damselfy right next to me! The Jewelwings frequently pick mosquitos out of the air around me, but this is the first time I’ve seen this particular predator become prey. Very exciting!
I guess this is what happens to the damsel if the knight doesn’t get to the dragon in time. Ha!
Don D
St.Augusta, MN
Midland Clubtail eats Ebony Jewelwing
Dear Don,
PHotos of Dragonflies eating Damselflies or Dragonflies eating other Dragonflies are always an exciting treat. These top of the food chain insect predators will eat just about anything they can catch.
spreadwing damselfly
Location: Andover, New Jersey
June 5, 2011 1:22 pm
This is my second spring photographing damselflies and dragonflies. I had never seen this species until this year: a spreadwing damselfly. This is in Kittatinny Valley State Park, which to me is the damselfly and dragonfly center of the world!
Signature: Jean LeBlanc
Spreadwing Damselfly
Hi Jean,
Thanks for sending us your photo. According to BugGuide, the Spreadwing Damselflies are in the family Lestidae.
¶ Posted 06 June 2011 § ‡ ° Noone can recognize these…
Location: Southern NH. Pond
May 28, 2011 9:43 pm
I went swimming in a pond a few days ago and after our day was coming to an end, we started noticing these ugly bugs in the water. After paying attention there were quite a few of them. We collected some to take pictures but they didnt come out perfect. Do these bite? Cause they look like that have lil pinchers on the back end.
Signature: *CuriousInNH*
Dragonfly Naiads
Dear *CuriousInNH*,
Despite the poor quality of your image, it is easy to identify these Dragonfly Naiads. Immature Dragonflies are aquatic predators. We don’t believe they are capable of biting a human.
Cannibalistic Dragonfly
Location: Bradenton, Florida
May 23, 2011 1:46 pm
Good Afternoon! Huge fan of your site, thank you so much! Spotted these dragonflies ”flying” together, it was only after I got close and heard the crunching and noticed that one was headless that I realized one was eating the other. Gross but cool photo – thought you might like to have it.
Signature: Linda Lamp
Dragonfly Cannibalism
Dear Linda,
Thank you so much for sending us your awesome images documenting Dragonfly cannibalism. We must admit we are a bit challenged with Dragonfly species identification. Perhaps our readership will be able to provide the names of the two individuals in this photo. We believe the predator may be one of the Mosaic Darners in the genus Aeshna (see BugGuide) and the prey may be a Skimmer.
Dragonfly Cannibalism
Update: May 24, 2011
We were in such a rush to get to work yesterday, we compiled this posting in a hurry, and in retrospect, we believe this second photo might make species identification easier as the wing veination is more evident.
Dragonfly???
Location: Jacksonville FL
April 5, 2011 1:32 pm
Hello again Bugman!! Could you perhaps tell me if this is a dragonfly or maybe a damselfly? Very cool colors on it! I can’t tell you how much I love what you are doing here. I reference this website all the time! :}
Thanks for you continued efforts!
Signature: Dan
Damselfly: Rambur's Forktail
Hi Dan,
This is a Damselfly, not a Dragonfly. We have to confess that trying to identify Damselflies to the species level is a challenge for us. We believe this is a Narrow Winged Damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae and possibly one of the Bluets in the genus Enallagma which is well represented on BugGuide. The green coloration on the fore part of the body and the singly turquoise abdominal ring would seem to be distinguishing features, but we cannot seem to find a match on BugGuide. We did find a matching image online, but it is not identified. Perhaps one of our readers will eventually write in with a species identification.
¶ Posted 06 April 2011 § ‡ ° What is this alien creature?
Location: North Texas
March 29, 2011 10:54 pm
We, recently, bought a house with a pool and when we drained the pool, to clean it out, I noticed these creatures moving around in the shallow water (about 3 inches deep). There were about 5 of these creatures and I caught two of them to take pictures and ask around to see if anyone knew what they are, but nobody, that I asked, knew what they were.
I observed these creatures for awhile and noticed that they have 6 legs and they squirt water out their back ends to propell themselves through the water.
I took these pictures. If you know what they are, can you tell me what they are?
Signature: Scotti B.
Dragonfly Naiad
Hi Scotti,
This is the larva of a Dragonfly, and like many other aquatic nymphs, it is called a Naiad. We hope they survived the pool cleaning. You can transfer them to another container of water until they mature, or even better, release them in a local pond.
Thank you for finding out what kind of alien looking creature I found in my pool was. It turned out to be a Dragonfly Larva (Naiad). I had never seen one before and it had me stumped. And, by the way, they did survive the pool cleaning. I saved them all and I released them into a nearby pond and I hope to see them flying around this summer.
Thanks, again!
Scotti B.
rss
I like This
