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Seamless transition

A seamless transition from the spring species of odonates to the summer species is slowly but surely underway.

Spangled Skimmer (Libellula cyanea) is a summer species that starts to appear in Northern Virginia in late spring. The following individual — spotted at Hidden Pond during a photowalk at Meadowood Recreation Area (MRA), Fairfax County, Virginia USA — is a teneral female, as indicated by her tenuous wings and terminal appendages.

21 MAY 2018 | MRA | Spangled Skimmer (teneral female)

Female Spangled Skimmers have a pair of flanges beneath their eighth abdominal segment that are used to scoop and hold a few drops of water when laying eggs (oviposition), hence the family name “Skimmer.” Remember that all dragonflies and damselflies have a 10-segmented abdomen, numbered from front to back.

Copyright © 2018 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

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This entry was posted on May 27, 2018 at 4:00 am and is filed under Aperture, Canon 580EX Speedlite, digital photography, dragonflies, education, natural science, Panasonic DMC-FZ150, photowalking, wildlife photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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