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
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.
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.
Good morning,
Both have typical feature among North American Odos, that reflect in their common name.
The eater is a Cyrano Darner, for its extended ‘nose’, a female, the eated is a male Roseate Skimmer, for obvious reason, a male.
Thanks for your identification. The Cyrano Darner, Nasiaeschna pentacantha, is profiled on BugGuide.