Dragonfly laying eggs in a pond

Description:

Tandem pair flying over open water (you can see the reflection)........... Egg Laying:..... Depending on the species and/or the circumstances, the male may or may not be around while the female lays her eggs. Males can often be found guarding the female, chasing off other potential mates so that she can finish laying the eggs fertilized with his sperm. Some species go to extremes in mate guarding - the male doesn't release the female, but remains attached until she has laid at least some eggs. Tandem pairs can often be seen flying slowly among the vegetation, looking for oviposition sites. For many species often seen in tandem, the female inserts each egg individually into some suitable vegetation, from dead wood to reeds, sometimes above the waterline, sometimes below, sometimes so far below that the males and females descend into the water breathing via a protective coating of air that gets trapped in the many fine hairs on their bodies. In cases where the eggs are laid above the waterline, several situations may occur. Sometimes the eggs are laid over water, and the newly emerged larva drops in. Sometimes, the vegetation dies and falls into the water, or becomes submerged after the rains. In D. Paulson's copyrighted image available through the University of Michigan, 6 pairs of the damselfly, Argia moesta, are ovipositing. In this case, the females generally have their abdomens seeking sites in or near the water while the males are approximately vertical.