how to attract dragonflies (danselflies?)

salden · Post by **salden** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 4:47 pm

I was down in Virginia for the past couple of days doing some air sampling from mobile vehicle exhaust. In order to cool down the box truck we were operating out of, it was necessary to run the AC for a bit. So as not to have the exhaust from the truck register on the sampling equipment, we had to hook up an exhaust tube and place it away from our samplers.

When I went around to check on the generator, I noticed these guys on the exhaust tube. I am not sure what was the attaction, but they looked like they were planning on "homesteading"..

I do not know the IDs of these, but one might be a "whitetail?"

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 5:35 pm

Very interesting Sue.
Lovely dragonflies with colored wings.

Speaking about ID... we have Erland.

salden · Post by **salden** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:49 am

I am hoping Erland has an id. There were around five present, but only the one with the bluish-white tail.

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:11 am

Your sure the tube was not that hot their tails had been burnt to ash Sue?

DaveW

salden · Post by **salden** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:51 am

DaveW wrote:Your sure the tube was not that hot their tails had been burnt to ash Sue?

DaveW

Actually I felt the tube and it was not hot or even warm. They were flying all around it. It might have been a "moisture" issue...

Erland R.N. · Post by **Erland R.N.** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 7:39 am

They are a female and a male Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia). There are one more Plathemis in USA, the Desert Whitetail, but that one has a more South-western distribution. I was lucky to find both species flying in good numbers at a spot down in south-western Texas in 2005.

Other males develope white tails (abdomens) too, many from the Libellula genus. Actually the two whitetails where placed in Libellula genus some time back.

I'm not sure what brought them to land on the tube. If weather was somewhat cool, only a slight temperature above ambient, could make them land there. I think insects are much more able to "feel" slight temperature differences than us humans.

The species is know for flying low and landing on the ground or low vegetation. Surely the tube would be a better landing spot than in the grass.

Erland

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:12 pm

Excellent photos Sue.....lucky to get a pair also.