Monday 4 June 2018

Emerging damselfly

I went to the wildlife garden on my walk to the school run. I was lucky to find a just emerged damselfly. It was sitting on top of its larval skin (top shot) on a leaf. There were other dry exuviae on the same leaf and an immature Azure Damselfly, so I guess the newly emerged individual is this species too. I was surprised to find this emergence as it has been a dull, cold day with a bit of a drizzle at times.
A teneral (recently emerge immature) Azure Damselfly on the same leaf.
A photo of the leaf with the teneral individual on top, its exuviae and the newly emerged one at the bottom.
The wings have started to expand. Note the relatively thick abdomen.

The fully extended wings. The individual is still very green and soft, it will slowly acquire its black markings and later the mature colours.