Dragonfly Exuvia

Subject:  Strange bug appears on my boat dock
Geographic location of the bug:  Odessa Florida
Date: 03/05/2018
Time: 07:28 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Dear Bugman,
this is one strange caper, lol/ This thing really looks strange to me. I have tried to identify him/her, with no success. I swept one away before, then realized it was hollow… zoom in. It does not appear to be a locust of any kind… but what do I know.
How you want your letter signed:  My daughter refuses to visit till I give her the all clear

Dragonfly Exuvia

Dear MDRTVTIGHTAC,
All Insects, and other Arthropods as well, shed a hard exoskeleton during each stage of metamorphosis, and the cast-off exoskeleton is called an exuvia.  This is the exuvia of a Dragonfly.  The nymphs of Dragonflies are aquatic and they are called naiads.  When the Dragonfly naiad approaches maturity, the nymph leaves the water and climbs up a vertical feature, like a dock post or a reed, and it molts for the final time, eventually flying away as a winged adult Dragonfly.

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