Continued Courship

 

"Misty Lagoon Study"

9 x 12 x 3/4 oil on canvas

$95

 

 

In my last post I never did describe this species.  Tell you the truth they were zippin around the pound so fast it was hard to get a good look at them!  Bright red though so my thought is Needham's Skimmer or Roseate Skimmer. 

Back to the courtship.  So once the female dragonfly has been captivated by the male, they are ready to do some aerobatics together as follows.  This involves the make actually hooking his end around the females neck/yeyse and dragging her along for the ride!  So barbaric I know!  The three part process is as follows...The female is perched.  The male perches on top of her and curves his abdomen under his body (yes he is very flexible) and grabs the female around the neck with his claspers.  Then voila!  They fly away with the male in the lead......

To be continued...

 

painting available at www.sophiemuseum.com