Jaunty Dropwing

Erland R.N. · Post by **Erland R.N.** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:00 pm

One of the wonderfull dragonflies of South Africa, Trithemis stictica. From my visit in December 2006.

Canon 5D, Sigma 150 + 1,4
f/9, 1/200 s, iso 800, uncropped

cheers
Erland

RobertoM · Post by **RobertoM** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:11 am

I like this!

jmlphoto · Post by **jmlphoto** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:30 am

i like the tail good shot erland

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:44 am

What beautiful colors on this dragonfly. Is there a reason for them to park their wings and body in that position?

Erland R.N. · Post by **Erland R.N.** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:37 pm

Thank you all for comments.

beetleman wrote:What beautiful colors on this dragonfly. Is there a reason for them to park their wings and body in that position?

They do it because they are called Dropwings

No seriously, the most common reason for this should be that the wings trap air around the thorax, though increasing the temperature of especially the wing muscles. That is at least true for a lot of dragonflies in cooler regions, but I think it's the same reason for Trithemis species.

I wondered though if the posture might increase the effective field of view when the dragonfly is perched.

Other dragonflies with large coloured areas at the basal part of the wings, may use these as shades for the thorax and abdomen, as not to overheat in the mid day sun.

Erland

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:54 pm

Very beautiful colors.

It looks very slim. A male?
Assuming avaliable light was limited judging by ISO 800.