Dragonfly larva

[goosey]

I was stood on the bank of the Spartelmeer (a small lake in the NP Zuid Kennemerland) watching emperor dragonflies when I saw this dragonfly larva walking away from the water over the grass. I have only ever seen dragonfly exuvia on foliage growing out of, or along side the water from which they came.

Is it usual for larvae to look for somewhere else for their Metamorphosis?



I don't think this is an emperor dragonfly larva, it seems too squat for that.
Idea's any one?

[Pudding4brains]

Hi Goosey,

I don't really know Dragonflies, so I can only relate to what I see in the field. To me it seems that many of the larger species like to find sturdy vertical surfaces and are willing to travel to find those. I often find exuvia a few feet up on trees that are some meters away from the shore - my finds range up to 5m but I don't know the true limits.

Of course, if a suitable surface is available nearby it seems to be more popular. The wall of a bird watching cabin (wooden boards), half a meter away from the side of a lake (puddle more like) where I regularly come is usually "plastered" with exuvia this time of year.

Cheers, Arp

P.S. Waarneming.nl has a good subforum for ID of those.

[goosey]

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

Hi Goosey,

I don't really know Dragonflies, so I can only relate to what I see in the field. To me it seems that many of the larger species like to find sturdy vertical surfaces and are willing to travel to find those. I often find exuvia a few feet up on trees that are some meters away from the shore - my finds range up to 5m but I don't know the true limits.

Of course, if a suitable surface is available nearby it seems to be more popular. The wall of a bird watching cabin (wooden boards), half a meter away from the side of a lake (puddle more like) where I regularly come is usually "plastered" with exuvia this time of year.

Cheers, Arp

P.S. Waarneming.nl has a good subforum for ID of those.

That's interesting, and what this one must have been doing.
It was nice to see this larvae at this stage and get a good look at it .

Thanks Arp

[RoyW]

It's not unusual for some larvae to crawl a considerable distance from the waters edge before emerging (sometimes over 10 meters), or to climb several meters up banks/trees.

This one is the larva of a skimmer or chaser (Orthetrum/Libellula species), but I wouldn't want to try and identify it from a photo.