Spotting a Dragonfly

Yesterday, we noticed that a dragonfly nymph had climbed up a reed stem by the pond and undergone metamorphosis changing into its adult form.  We have many different sorts of damselfly that lay eggs in the pond, we occasionally spot the larval stages in the pond, but finding a dragonfly especially one that has just emerged from our pond is a real red letter day for us.

The Dragonfly Seen at the Office Pond

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dragonfly

To us, dragonflies are beautiful creatures and we have been lucky to have attracted dragonflies to our pond for the last few years or so,  however, we don’t recall one emerging from the pond so early in the summer.  The cast nymph case can be seen in the picture, it is on the rock immediately belong the dragonfly.  Dragonflies have been around since the Carboniferous, but their fossil remains are extremely rare.

To read about a dragonfly fossil discovery: Amazing Fossil Find from the Eastern USA.

None of us are experts on the Order Odonata, but we think this is female Southern Hawker, although we could be wrong.  It has not flown away yet, the showers are not helping.  We hope it is going to be OK.

For models of ancient invertebrates from the fossil record, visit the models section of Everything Dinosaur’s user-friendly and award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur Models and Replicas.