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Taking to the air(lots of pics)

I spent(wasted...lol) maybe half an hour firing these shots this morning. The story behind it is that this morning I spotted a damselfly larvae crawling out of one of my fishtanks this morning. I had an idea of what was going on, so took it to my room intent on taking pictures. I tried to get it to grasp onto a line in my room...but it was too rigid already. While I was holding it in my fingers in the sun, the bulging skin split and the damsel emerged. I got it to climb up onto the string which draws the drapes. I feel kinda bad that I wasn't able to shoot the molting of the stage when the wing buds just started inflating...it all happened to fast! The first 10 or so pictures were taken around 8 seconds apart from each other(fast the camera could focus, shoot, and the "reload". Due to the green color, I believe this is a female. Others which flew over the pond the damsel came from were black and blue. I think being in a dark aquarium may have delayed her a few days. If I find another larvae, I hope to get a complete sequence. Not a natural setting, but still gives you an how it works. Just pretend the damselfly has just burst from there skin and crawled a few inches up a reed in a pond...
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Enjoy!

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The wingbuds are just starting to fill with fluid.

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As more fluid is pumped in, the buds lengthen at a rapid rate. At this stage, I could observe the fluid pumping in the abdomen like an water bubble.

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The wing buds continue to grow. The abdomen is also lengthening.

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Halfway, perhaps?
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Still going strong!

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Almost fully opened.

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Just the tips left...
 
Cool pictures,thats really neat.


Jerry
 
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Wings are now fully opened.

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Abdomen is lengthening too. By this time, I felt the lighting for the first set of photos was too bright(they appeared to be blurry in the small imageview) so I persuaded the critter to hop onto my hand, and used it to block off some light.

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Growing longer.

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Longer than the wings now.

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A drop of fluid at the end of the abdomen. I think it was probably the same stuff used to pump up the wings.

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Everything is almost pumped up. The creature still looks like a clear piece of cellophane...
 
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Does it look ready to fly yet?

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Starting to darken just a tad...


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Got tired of trying to focus on my hand...put the critter on my bed and continued. See the color coming in?

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The color darkened quickly when the damselfly crawled towards the sun.

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But is still a little faint.

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The white tips on the wings"Darkened" in within a few seconds.

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At this point the damselfly attempted to "unstick" its wings. The right pair came apart...the left still remained stuck.

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Finally, all four wings were able to move independently. I took it outside...and just before I released into the air I took this shot.
 
Thats amazing
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Cool whip!
 
WoW! You should really print those out! It's a photo-essay of the emmergence! That is really cool. I would not say that was time wasted at all. Very impressive photography....and patience!
 
  • #10
That's very awesome! Asside from mantids, odonates are a second favorite insect. They're very diffcult to preserve like a butterfly-only more delicate!

How is it that you came across a damselfly larvae in your fishtank? Are there fish in it? Are the tanks outside or how did it lay an egg in the aquuarium and without the fishes having a snack.

I'd love to hear how this critter came about!
 
  • #11
Thanks for all the comments!

Schloaty: I might do that, but I will probably have to get a full sequence first. As most of them have already emerged(I can't find anymore larvae), maybe next year. I may also try a dragonfly too. I always thought I was an impatient person.

Swords: No where near as exciting as your thoughts were but here it is anyway.

...I have an extra ten gallon that is usually breeding fish and raising fry. It was not in service for most of the summer, so it served as a "treat holder". Here, any damselflies, mosquito larvae, and other critters that I came across during pond replanting and other tasks waited until they were fed to a fish, newt, etc. The damselfly probably helped itself to lots of the mozzie larvae while he stayed in there.

Apparently, this guy was missed, and I spotted him crawling up a corner that day.
 
  • #12
I see! That's an awesome idea, a treat aquarium for harvested bugs! I've raised fish (killifish mostly) for a lot of years but never thought of setting up a seperate aquarium for wild water bug foods! I had a small fish bowl /series of bottles for hatching/raising brine shrimp for killi fry but never used outdoor bugs.

Those guys would be great to have in a tank just for observing emergences! Do you know if the damselfly larvae are cannibalistic against their kin or can you keep a bunch in one tank-maybe if they have lots of aquatic plants and rocks to dart around in?
I love the drastic difference between the appearance of the larvae and final flying dragon/damsel fly. Unlike Maggots and grubs the immature forms of insects, the odonates are just as cool looking as the adults! How long did you have the larvae before the emergence that you photographed?

Be sure to post any other future cool experiments like this, I know I'd love reading them!
 
  • #13
Facinating

I heard somewhere that odonate larva take 2 years to mature before they moult.

Truly amazing!

Tell me, how long have you had your tank set up? with all the creatures in it, how do you mantain water quality and proper oxygen levles???
 
  • #14
Swords: I've heard of lots of people go out to collect mosquito larvae for there fish. I myself couldn't stand watching all this "spontaneously generated" food swimming in the pond without using a bit for myself.

    I believe he was in this tank for at least 1 month, possibly more. I go mainly for the small ones for the fish as the only animal I have that can down fully grown larvae is the newt.

I've also thought of setting up a little larvae tank too. That would be awesome. I remember when I was very young I kept some dragonfly larvae in an upsidedown frisbee and fed them baby mosquitofish...who had difficulty evading the constant ambushes due to shallow water. In fact, right now a dragonfly skin is still clutching a power cord into my ten gallon upstairs tank. This guy emerged while we were on a trip...and a beautiful darner dragonfly was resting in the windowsill when I arrived. He probably either escaped being eaten, or snuck in with the plants. If you want, I have some dragonfly larvae pictures that I took...showing the protruding mask(I pulled it forward for the shots...you can see the little teeth inside).

Finch: I'm not sure, but I'm going to guess that the species in my pond take 1 year. In winter, when you dredge up pots or pull muck from the bottom(I also collect scuds...managed to start a culture from the ones in the pond) you get lots of 1 inch or so larvae. All are pretty similar in size. And since right now I can't find any, I think its a once a year thing.

Dragonfly and damselfly larvae could care less about how clean the tank is kept-they are quite hardy. However, I usually do water changes on my tanks at least 2 times a week...depending on how much time I have. I use a 3 gallon bucket, so the result is about a 20 percent water change on the 46 gallon bowfront(which houses my fish). Though some aquarists use air pumps to agitate the water surface and add more oxygen, the filter does that just fine for me.

The 46 gallon has been up with fish in it for 4 years...though a major revamp took place this winter...not finished yet if you check the freshwater board here for pics. My ten gallon upstairs tank is about 1 year old and houses a colony of Heterandria formosa and a single lonely Chinese firebelly newt.
 
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