An Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) exuvia was received from Andy Davidson, a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) | exuvia (dorsal)
This individual is a male, as indicated by the vestigial hamules visible on the ventral side of the exuvia, abdominal segments two and three (S2-S3).

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) | exuvia (ventral)
Food for Thought
This exuvia is one of three “cast skins” from odonate nymphs that were collected in the field and reared in the laboratory as part of a research project entitled “Predator-Prey Interactions in a Changing World.” Since all three nymphs were collected from the James River rock pools, I assume they lived in essentially the same habitat. I wonder why the E. simplicollis exuvia is so much darker in color than either the P. flavescens or P. longipennis exuviae.
Related Resources
- Precious cargo, a blog post by Walter Sanford.
- Test shots: Pantala flavescens exuvia
- Test shots: Pachydiplax longipennis exuvia
Tech Tips
The following equipment was used to shoot both of the macro photographs featured in this post: Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera; Fujifilm MCEX-11 extension tube; and Fujinon XF80mm macro lens. The camera was set for both manual exposure and manual focus. That’s right, a switch on the camera body is used to set the type of focus. It’s a Fujifilm thing. Actually, back-button focus was used to autofocus the image and adjusted manually as necessary. That’s also a Fujifilm thing.
A Godox XProF radio flash trigger, mounted on the hotshoe of my X-T1, was used to control a pair of off-camera Godox TT685 Thinklite TTL Flashes (TT685F and TT685C) set for radio slave mode. Each flash was fitted with a snap-on plastic diffuser.
Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 was used to spot-heal and sharpen both images.
Copyright © 2018 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
Tags: Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly, Erythemis simplicicollis, exuvia, Family Libellulidae (Skimmers), gear talk, James River, male, studio photography, vestigial hamuli
November 17, 2018 at 8:20 pm |
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November 19, 2018 at 4:01 am |
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December 26, 2018 at 4:13 am |
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