Golden Ringed Dragonfly (Cordulegaster boltonii) Exuviae

Having collected dragonfly and damselfly exuviae for the past 5 years or so, I have wanted to get my hands on what has to be the most impressive set of teeth on an exuviae, the Golden ringed Dragonfly. Although this species is present in small numbers in West Kent, the chances of me finding an exuviae of this species are quite low although I must say, I haven't personally looked for them. Luckily for me, during a conversation last May with Gill Brook (former Kent Dragonfly Recorder), we got onto the talking about exuviae and I mentioned that I needed Golden Ringed Dragonfly for my collection. The next time we met a few weeks later, Gill brought along a number of different species exuviae that I needed including 2 Golden ringed Dragonfly exuviae. They were just as impressive as I imagined and to actually study those jaws at close range was pretty good. This species is a sit and wait predator, laying in the mud and debris on the bottom of streams with just its eyes above the mud. Any passing prey getting close enough will probably not know much about the sudden attack which is about to happen. I can only imagine that when in those inter meshing teeth, escape is near impossible. This species also has I believe the longest time as a nymph where it can emerge any time from 2 -5 years depending on water temperature and location. Now that winter has arrived and no odonata are to be seen, I intend to pass some time either net dipping and photographing some nymphs and also photographing the new exuviae that I received last year. With this in mind, I spent and afternoon last weekend taking a number of photos of the Golden ringed Dragonfly exuviae from a number of angles to show off some of the identification features. Although the shape is quite diagnostic with bits of debris also sticking to the exuviae, the key feature unique to this species is those impressive teeth, which are quite unlike any other species. I would love to find one of these for myself at some point but i'm just very pleased now to have these in my collection. Hopefully over the next few weeks, I will get around to photographing a few more species which I shall share in due coarse. 

Golden Ringed Dragonfly (Cordulegaster boltonii) - female exuviae