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Breeding (continued)

Picture
Black Threadtails in the copulatory wheel position
Interestingly,  before the male inseminates the female, he uses his penis to remove or displace  any sperm that may be contained in the female’s sperm-storage organs from  previous sexual encounters with other males. This is done to ensure that his  sperm has priority, as about 95% of eggs laid immediately after copulation will  have been fertilised during the most recent copulation (Brooks,  2003).

To  facilitate this, the male of certain species often guards the female while she  lays her eggs. This may be done in the tandem position or with the male hovering  near the female in order to drive off other intruding males.  The  photograph of a male Fiery Emperor on this gallery page was taken while he was watching over an 
 ovipositing female (pictured below).


Picture
Female Fiery Emperor ovipositing


Different  species employ different egg-laying strategies. Damselflies and dragonflies of  the Aeshnidae family use what is known as endophytic oviposition i.e. they lay  their eggs inside the stems and leaves of emergent or submerged plants. The  female Fiery Emperor is laying eggs in the stems of plants under the surface of  the water.

Other dragonflies simply lay their eggs directly into the water
(exophytic oviposition) or onto plants that float on or just under the surface  of the water (epiphytic oviposition).


Further reading

Dragonflies by Steve Brooks - published by the Natural History Museum, London in 2003 - is an excellent introduction to the life of dragonflies. The text is supplemented by numerous photographs. (This is in the same series as Butterflies  by Dick Vane-Wright.) Steve Brooks  also collaborated with the late Philip Corbet on Dragonflies, which was published by HarperCollins as part of the long-running New Naturalist Library in 2008. As with other books in this series (which began with a book on butterflies in 1945) the focus is on the fauna and flora of Britain; there are maps showing the distribution of all the breeding odontates in the UK and Ireland, for example. However, the detailed but readable text on dragonfly habitats, development, behaviour etc. make this an indispensable book for the dragonfly enthusiast.

In Hong Kong, Keith Wilson photographed and wrote Hong Kong Dragonflies in 1995. A smaller bilingual book, Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Hong Kong followed in 2003. The latter was prepared in collaboration with several local members of the Dragonfly Working Group of the AFCD. This group has very recently published The Dragonflies of Hong Kong, which updates and supersedes the 2003 Field Guide - essential for anyone interested in the dragonflies that occur in the HKSAR.

Finally, the Asia Dragonfly website can be found at  http://www.asia-dragonfly.net .  Among other things, this site contains nearly 8,000 photographs of Asian dragonflies.

 
  • Home
  • About
  • Hong Kong Guided Birding
  • Galleries
    • Hong Kong Landscapes
    • Hong Kong Birds
    • Hong Kong Plants
    • Hong Kong Insects & Spiders
  • Publications
  • Flora & Fauna
    • Dragonflies
    • Butterflies