For the past two weeks I've been shooting nothing but damselflies, just to get away from tiger beetles for a while. These damselflies are beautiful elegant and adorable insects belonging to the sub-order Zygoptera of the Odonata order of which dragonflies are also part.
Dragonflies (sub-order Anisoptera) are a more familiar sight as they are larger and more visible, while damsels are a lot smaller, needle-like with lengths of about 20-50mm. I started hunting for them at the waters of the Chinese Garden and later at the Botanical Gardens and the McRitchie Reservoir. Damselflies hover and fly above the water along the banks of ponds and streams, places where they feed, mate and lay their eggs. The two species that I encounter are the blue damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) and the colourful emerald damselfly (Ceriagrion cerinorubellum). Another common damselfly is the midget size pygmy wisp which is about 20mm long.
One of the pleasures of shooting damselflies is the ability to observe their behaviour through the macro lens while waiting for the right moment to click the shutter. In one instance while I was observing the damsel, she disappeared for a split second and returned to the same stem with a small moth in its mouth, devouring it instantly in seconds. This is live action seen through macro lens.
Another common sight along the water's edge is the mating wheel of the damselflies. The mating behaviour is quite different from other insects. The male fly has two sets of genitalia. One located at the abdomen tip and the other called the secondary genitalia located at the underside of the second segment behind the head. Before mating the male will transfer its sperm to the secondary genitalia. During mating the male will clasp the female by the neck with its anal appendages to form a tandem position and both will fly around attached to each other. Eventually they will stop at a plant where the female will curl her abdomen tip to reach the male's secondary genitalia to form the Valentine's heart-shaped wheel position. The wheel position will last for up to 15 minutes for sperm transfer to take place.
When I told my friend that the mating lasts for about 15 minutes, he said that in his next life, he would want to be a male damselfly, disclosing his less than satisfactory current mating duration.
After mating the damselflies will fly in tandem to a suitable plant just below the water level to lay her eggs. These eggs will hatch into nymphs and stay in the water for a few years feeding on small aquatic animals. When they are ready, the nymphs will climb out of the water on a stem and moult into little beautiful damselflies. The damselflies have a fairly short land life of about 4-8 weeks compared to years as nymphs under water. What a pity; beautiful creatures they are.
