So, I was wrong about the dragonflies in my last dragonfly post. As I watched them about a week ago I realized that it was in fact the the male who vigorously fluttered his wings and attached his apendage to the female, and the female who lifted hers to the male's thorax to begin the mating process. Another revelation: the females have the white dot on their black wings while the males do not. After I made this discovery, I watched as a male vigorously defended his mate while she laid her eggs. It seems a number of males tried to approach her as she was in the water, but his sheer fury and tenacity sent them flying in other directions everytime. I think his protectiveness may have drawn him another female who perched above him for a while. He eventually followed her a distance away and mated with her too. She flew a couple feet from his first mate to do her egg laying and for a while he defended that ground as well. But alas it was too much of a stretch and the male dragonflies were too plenty, so he settled for defending only his first love. As a result, his mistress didn't get to spend near as much time in water laying and arranging her eggs.
cool chronicles.
ReplyDeleteinteresting on the heart shaped mating position. until you posted the photo i always envisioned more of a missionary position and less of a 69 position.