Delicate and deadly world of dragonflies!
Delicate and deadly world of dragonflies!
- Vinod M Kumar
Green Marsh Hawk preying on Wandering Glider |
Green marsh hawk mating |
Within a few minutes into the activity, mating of Green marsh hawk (Orthetrum sabina) caught my attention. Dragonflies do have attractive mating position forming a heart or wheel posture. I also saw some Ground skimmers (Diplacodes trivialis) and as the name suggests they are always found close to the ground. Males are bluish while females are yellowish green.
Ground Skimmer (Female) |
Ground Skimmer (Male) |
The very conspicuous, Wandering glider (Pantala flavescens) were also in abundance. Do you know, recent studies have indicated that this species has the longest recorded migration among insects. So they are rightly called as Globe skimmers.
But the most interesting observation was of a Green marsh hawk preying on a wandering glider. Initially, I thought it was just a mating of two individuals but noticing that it’s two different species I realised it must be a cannibalistic behaviour. It took around fifteen minutes for the green marsh hawk to devour the whole wandering glider. And when it is just finished, I noticed another green marsh hawk catching its prey. Some ants do got a sumptuous meal of a wandering glider, which might have got injured by a green marsh hawk.
I spent two hours today trying to identify some dragonflies, but I have only identified three species in the campus. All the observations I made today have certainly increased my interest towards dragonflies. Now I am certain that I will come up with more species and interesting observations in the future.
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