Emergence

Description:

This sequence shows the emergence of a dragonfly, in this case a clubtail called the Common Sanddragon. The ode had already split its nymph skin and climbed out when I first saw it but I did get to see the expansion process. From the first shot to the fourth took about 10 minutes. The fifth shot is of a different individual but at the same spot on the same day and is posted to show what the adult looks like. As you can see, the newly emerged, or teneral, individual is much less colorful than an adult is. The sequence shows the individual still all compacted from fitting into the smaller nymph form. First the wings are expanded and as that process gets started the abdomen is inflated and expanded. Eventually the wings and abdomen are full length yet still pale and/or shiny. Since this is a dragonfly the wings will snap to a horizontal position when fully expanded and soon after the newly emerged dragon will fly up into trees or other foliage to hide while it finishes hardening. Emergence is a most dangerous time for odes. They are extremely vulnerable to predation at this point being totally helpless. In cases like this individual where emergence is occuring very near the water they are prone to being swamped by the wakes of passing boats. During mass emergence entire broods can be wiped out in this way.