"Basking in the Warm Glow"
18 x 24 x 1 1/2
$400
So there I was minding my own business in the garden when low & behold this beautiful creature shows up for some attention. The latin name for this species is Perithemis tenera which is derived from Themis, the guardian of peace and justice in Greek mythology. Well wasn't I blessed to be having these hanging around me all last summer and guarding the garden!
Back to the lesson on dragonflies. So after about 11 months the nymph just stops eating underwater and becomes restless. The little critter intuitively knows to just stop. Then after a day or so it begins to emerge out of the water by say climbing up a reed or a cattail. It then latches on real tight to whatever it is on, and normally in a verticle position, and begins its last molt or final phase of metamorphosis from water dweller to freedom flyer! At first, the juvenile is very vulnerable as the wings need to have hemolymph pumped into them. This starts to happen after the dragonfly starts breathing and takes about an hour. Many fall prey to other species at this point but for those that make it, its flying and fun times......
More on the dragonfly in the next post
No comments:
Post a Comment