Dragonfly Species

stevensi

Hi All,

Saw this fella chase and finally manage to catch this butterfly. It was spectacular to watch. I was just wondering if anyone knows the name of the species of dragonfly. Thanks for the help

Regards

PirateShampoo

Looks like a Southern Hawker

http://www.uksafari.com/southernhawker.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Hawker

bing3

More likely to be a Common Hawker i reckon.

Try http://www.habitas.org/dragonflyireland/5624.htm

Nice shot as well. Its like hes saying "Dude i'm trying to eat here"

Mothman

This is a Male Common Hawker.
The antehumeral stripes are diagnostic. Only one can be seen in photo, but it is long and thin. In Southern Hawker they are broad, and in female Common Hawker and Migrant Hawker they are very small

Durnish

excellent work.
I love the sound of the big hawkers' wings when a pair of them hawk over a bog pool.

Sounds poetic, I mean scouting for action, not spitting, by the way.

gary82

hah I was about to start a thread on the exact same thing and it appears to be the same species too! Maybe even the same beast - not in Galway by any chance?! :P

Got some photos;







Few more photos here>>

Mothman

It is the same species, but this one is a female. Note the almost absent antehumeral stripes, that I refered to in my previous post. The yellow costa (front edge of wing) of wing can clearly be seen.

gary82

Thanks Mothman, I can't spot exactly what the antehumeral stripes are but you sound like an expert so I'll take your word and start calling it a she!

She was clearly coming to the end of her life, not moving too much and not flying at all so I had a look around this morning and she was on the ground almost dead, slight movement when lifted. I have her inside now - too nice a creature to be eaten by the birds!

Mothman

From the look of her, she should be in prime of her adult life. The wings are almost in perfect nick.

It could be that she is cold. They are very lethargic and cannot fly unless warm. They use wings as solar panels to heat up. So she may come to life yet. She could also have starved becausee of the recent inclement weather. It was a good day in east yesterday. Was there much sunshine yesterday in Galway?

I've attached an image showing the antehumeral stripes.

gary82

Unfortunately she's completely given up the ghost now. Legs are all curled in and the left eye has gone sort of semi-transparent and a bit of it caved in - maybe an infection? Looks really strong and healthy apart from that.

gary82

Photo of the dodgy eye: