Friday, November 20, 2009

Orange Dragonfly

I've already said how you identify a damselfly as a damselfly: thin 10 segmented abdomen, squarish thorax, big eyes, two sets of wings (same size).
But this appears to be a dragonfly.
How do you tell the difference?
1) The eyes are touching. Dragonflies eyes touch, while damselflies end up with a slightly hammerhead kind of look.
2) The wings were always resting open, damselflies generally hold theirs closed.
3) The "tail" doesn't have enough segments, if you can't get close enough to count just remember that damselflies' wings aren't long enough to cover the end of their abdomen - dragonflies' are pretty close. They usually have thicker bodies too.
4) The wings are not the same size, the rear wings are slightly bigger (not that you can tell from this picture though).

That being said, I'm not quite sure what kind of dragonfly it is... just that it is one and that it is orange.

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