Two captions came to mind when I looked at the following photo.
- Hey Bob, let’s move to the beach. We won’t have to eat each other because of the free sand which is there. (There’s a joke in there somewhere!)
- If I don’t move, then maybe it won’t notice me/eat me.
Question is, which animal was in greater danger during this close encounter — the dragonfly or the spider? As I understand dragonfly feeding behavior, they catch prey by flying rather than crawling. So I’d say the dragonfly was in greater danger of being eaten by the spider than vice versa.
For those of you keeping score at home, neither the dragonfly nor the spider was harmed in the making of this photo. I don’t remember what caused the dragonfly to fly away, but it did so soon after this photo was taken.
08 JUN 2016 | Wickford Park | Common Sanddragon (male)
A Common Sanddragon dragonfly (Progomphus obscurus) was spotted during a photowalk along Dogue Creek at Wickford Park, Fairfax County, Virginia USA. This individual is a male, as indicated by his terminal appendages. The spider appears to be some sort of fishing spider, but that’s an educated guess.
Copyright © 2016 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
Tags: Common Sanddragon dragonfly, Dogue Creek, male, Progomphus obscurus, terminal appendages, Wickford Park, wildlife photography
walter sanford's photoblog 
June 14, 2016 at 4:53 am |
I haven’t seem a dragonfly eat a spider, but I have seen a jumping spider eating an Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly and was able to document in photos part of that gruesome process. (https://michaelqpowell.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/spider-captures-dragonfly-the-story/). I agree the dragonfly was potentially in greater danger, although fishing spiders have never struck me as being particularly aggressive.
June 14, 2016 at 7:36 pm |
Thanks for your comment, Mike. Way to shamelessly self-promote one of your posts! 😉
June 15, 2016 at 3:42 am |
🙂
December 30, 2016 at 4:05 am |
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