A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
I'm an aquatic entomologist studying giant water bugs and dragonflies, but I enjoy insects of all types. You'll see a lot of insects here!
North Carolina
Sign In to followI can't zoom into get a better look at the eyes, but if you don't think they're black, it's likely to be a great blue skimmer.
Lovely captures, by the way!
ceherzog: Oh, they're so beautiful underneath! Wonderful butterflies in general, at least I think so. And I'm glad you like my avatar. She's my representation of an Australian aboriginal mythical being called Coon Undura, the Dragonfly Woman. I have NO idea what she's supposed to look like really, but I love the idea of her so I've adopted her as my personal logo. :)
Thank you, Nayeli!
The first one is a slaty skimmer for sure, but the third one is a different species, a blue dasher. You'll notice that the eyes are bright green and the body paler blue in the blue dasher, both good indications that it's a dasher. The one in the middle I'm less sure about - could be another slaty, but it's a little pale to be a slaty and it's too big to be a dasher. Do you have another shot that shows the eyes more clearly? If they're black, it's a slaty. If green, I would lean toward a great blue skimmer.
That is a wonderful caterpillar!
Love this photo!
It's a vine sphinx moth, Eumorpha vitis. More info and a photo here:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/speci...