Caught in the Act!

I answered the phone on a sunny summer day. A perfect day, really - not too hot, not too chilly, low humidity...a great day to be out on the water. And it was a good thing too, because on the other end of the phone was my friend Vanita, inviting me to go out on her father's boat. I went to the store and picked up a rotisserie chicken, a beautiful wedge of Yancey's Fancy Smoked Gouda with Bacon, and some water crackers. We met briefly on the dock, got our lifejackets on and we were underway in the "Katrenita".

While I was lazing on the boat, I noticed a damselfly flitting around. I watched the lacy, delicate wings and metallic silvery color glistening in the sun. The more I looked, I realized that what I was seeing was two damselflies that had somehow "hooked up"...literally. There were two of them flying stuck together somehow.

And then they landed on the boat.

I was enthralled by this encounter! They landed on the seat right next to where I was sitting, so I decided to watch the show.

FUN DAMSELFLY FACTS

Damselflies have been around for about 300 million years - so as a species they have major longevity...but the average life span for most adult dragonflies is just one month. Carpe diem, my winged friends!

Damselflies mature with four distinct stages of development: egg, larval (or nymph), emergence, and adult. The majority of their life span is spent in the larval stage, which may last from several months to five years depending upon the temperature of the water they are living in.

Female damselflies mate with more than one partner; when a new mate comes along, he uses barbs on his penis to scoop out the sperm from the previous partner, giving his sperm an advantage in the fertilization process.

Because of the way their wings are made, damselflies can fly upwards, downwards, backward, forward, from side to side, and they can also hover! I guess we could call them nature's little helicopters!

Lastly, damselflies love to eat mosquitoes and small flies - or, as pictured below, sometimes they opt for heavier fare! Damselflies don't tend to bite humans, but they do have strong mandibles that they use to bite their prey. Don't worry...if a damselfly did bite you, its mandibles typically aren't strong enough to break through human skin!

So, now that you have some info on the damselfly, let's get back to the mating game. The female's abdomen was curled under to connect her sex organs with the male's, and the male's abdomen was lifted up and curled to clasp her neck. I thought, "Wow, this looks so uncomfortable!" but the damselfly's abdomen is made up of several different segments and designed to be flexible.

After seeing them in action, I wondered how these two particular damselflies chose one another. In the animal kingdom, some species do a dance to compete, or are selected based on the vibrancy of their coloring. I did a little research on damselfly mating and learned that the male damselfly doesn't hook up with just any old female damselfly. He actually has certain characteristics he looks for in his mate. He selects an appropriate breeding partner by checking out the way she flies, her color, pattern and her size. Once he sees what he likes...he subdues her and the mating process begins.

At this point in the process (pictured above), to my naked eye, it looked like they made a connection - I wondered what would happen next. In reality, they were still trying to get into the right position, and the shape that their abdomens made was sort of like a triangle. I thought hmm...this is interesting. Through my camera lens, I could actually see that the female was still trying to connect to the male. Wow!

Once they were actually connected, their abdomens formed a heart shape which I thought was pretty cool - and it looked like the female's abdomen was suddenly illuminated! God has a sense of humor for sure! After a while, they flew off together - I was so amazed to see this entire scene play out right there where I was sitting. Nature is truly fascinating.