More Mixed Pair Observations

After a good count of Willow Emerald Damselflies was made a few days earlier and some interesting mixed pairing observations seen, I made another return trip to Nethergong where I spent five hours on site having a good look around the area. I arrived at 10:30am where it was a little cloudy but quite warm but as the day moved on, the sunshine made an appearance which in turn, meant there was quite a bit of activity to be seen. I walked the usual areas along the stream and checked the nearby bushes but also today, walked a few more areas where I don't usually look and it was good to see Willow Emerald Damselflies here. I made an excellent record daily count of 144 Willow Emerald Damselflies with numerous pairs seen in tandem arriving along the stream from about midday. I also managed to see two mixed pairings of a male Emerald Damselfly in tandem with a female Willow Emerald Damselfly and one group of three in tandem comprising of a pair of Willow Emerald Damselfly with a male Emerald Damselfly which had clasped on to the male at the top of the group. I spent quite a bit of time with one of the mixed pairings as I wanted to observe any behaviours which I had not seen before and I was not to be disappointed. They stayed in tandem for one hour and eight minutes before the female was released.

 

A Mixed Pairing - Male Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) in tandem with a

female Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis).

 

As mentioned in my previous post, I do not know all the reasons why these mixed pairings happen but it seems that with the Emeralds, it may be more common than we think. It was interesting watching the pair for over an hour that the female Willow Emerald Damselfly seemed to know that she was paired with a different species. She often would move her abdomen up and down quite furiously which might suggest that she was not going to mate and also vent her frustrations. From time to time, they would make short flights in the grasses to the reeds and after landing, the male Emerald Damselfly would often lift up the female as if to mate with her.

 

A Mixed Pairing - Male Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) in tandem with a

female Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis).

 

On at least two occasions, she did cooperate and lifted her abdomen and they briefly connected. I did take some blurry photos of this but will not post them but keep them on file for reference. However, this soon broke up after a few seconds suggesting they could not connect suitably. What was most interesting to see and I'm not sure if this has been seen and photographed before was that on one occasion, they landed on some Stinging Nettle stems and almost immediately, the female Willow Emerald Damselfly started to seemingly oviposit. She slowly moved down the stem and repeated this action a few times. One can only presume that she had already mated with a male Willow Emerald Damselfly earlier and that this male Emerald Damselfly interloper had found his way to the female prior to her egg laying.

 

 

A Mixed Pairing - Male Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) in tandem with a

female Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) seemingly Ovipositing.

 

Why hadn't she decided to oviposit earlier on any of the grasses or reeds? Perhaps the sensation of landing on the Stinging Nettle stems made her instinctively start to egg lay. Whatever the reasons, the behaviour was interesting to watch and she very much was in charge of where she walked being larger than the male Emerald Damselfly. Eventually they moved off together back to the grasses and after 1 hour and eight minutes, the male released her where they stayed at rest next to each other for a while before flying off. Is it conceivable to think that these two species could mate or scientifically, it would not be possible? Either way, it was interesting for quite some time to just sit back and watch these behaviours and hopefully, I can return soon and spend some more time learning about the secret lives of this species.

 

  Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - mating pair