Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Emperor dragonfly 'ovipositing' (laying eggs) at the New River
Here is a female emperor dragonfly 'ovipositing' (depositing eggs from iher abdomen) at the New River, Bowes Park N11.
The dragonfly is standing on a brown fallen leaf, on the surface of the New River, where there is a large amount of soft green algae.
Here is a short video showing what I witnessed.
We can see that ovipositing (depositing the eggs) is a very physical process involving the whole body, with plenty of vigorous manipulations of the wings, the legs, and the muscles of the abdomen, as the dragonfly moves round the leaf looking for the best places to lay her eggs.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on
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Splendid shot, Paul.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Burnham on
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Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Good capture with no wobbles.
I once witnessed the next stage. I had a little barrel pond that I cleaned out, saving the bottom sludge to go back in later. Dumped it all in a bucket and two seriously savage-looking beasts* started bombing around. About 3" long, dark brown, with real fangs. They were bashing against the side of the bucket, so in a stroke of genius I put a stick in there. They immediately rushed up it and for the next half hour I watched spellbound as they dried out, split down the back and dragonflies emerged, mm by mm. And disappeared into the N15 aether.
*Deffo not vegans.
https://pamisherwood.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/welcome-to-sunny-tott...
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Thanks Pam. Stopping the camera wobble was really hard work actually. I liked your blog post there, as well.
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Permalink Reply by Simon Bradley on
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Joy
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