Pumping up the volume...

[Bruce Enns]

of the wings and abdomen, that is. This is the third post in this series. The teneral adult dragonfly has now nearly completed pumping up it's wings and the abdomen has also stretched and enlarged considerably. Because the adult has now moved around the stalk slightly to stay out of the direct wind (i.e. to stay on the side of the stalk that a flag would to avoid damage to its very delicate wings) the background is now much less distracting than early in the process, but the exuvium (old larval skin) is now hidden.

Canon 40D, ISO 400, natural light, 1/200s, f/14.0, tripod, full frame

Comments and critiques welcome and appreciated.

Cheers!
Bruce

[Anita Rakestraw]

Cool, Bruce! Very sharp & detailed! What do you mean by 'pumping?' It has to pump fluid (?) into its body after emerging??

[Bruce Enns]

Thanks Anita, The wings are expanded by pumping blood into them, and the segments of abdomen also expand into a more elongated shape. Like most insects it does most of its physical growth during these changes in life stages when it emerges from the exoskeleton (which limits it physical size because it is hard). At these stages, like this dragonfly's change from a larva to a adult (called a teneral), its body is soft and able to expand...after a few hours, it hardens again and for dragonflies, that is the size it will remain as an adult.

Cheers!
Bruce

[Anita Rakestraw]

Thanks for that information, Bruce!

[Julie Kenward]

It's gorgeous, Bruce! Nothing about this I don't like.

[Ed Vatza]

Now he looks happy, Bruce. Excellent in all ways.

[Dan Brown]

Great series Bruce! I really love this one! Sharpness, color, exp and BG are great! Do you know the species on this guy? Dan Brown

[Bruce Enns]

Thanks very much everyone. Dan, I think it is a Saffron-winged Meadowhawk, but I haven't yet sent the series to my friend at the Royal BC Museum for verification.

Cheers!
Bruce

[Aristotle Georgiou]

Beautiful shot Bruce. Really like the composition, detail, perch and BG looks superb.