Black tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) Nymph - 22mm

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I accidently netted my first Black tailed Skimmer nymph and this gave me the chance to be able to study and photograph the features on this nymph. Last weekend, I decided once again that I would make another visit to Grove Ferry but to an area where I have encountered Black tailed Skimmers in the past few years. My intention was to spend a few hours trying to locate this dragonfly nymph purposefully. The weather was not that kind with near gale force winds but it at least remained dry. Being a bottom dweller in the mud and silt, most of my time was spend with the net in a few areas where I could get amongst the mud in the hope my quarry would be there. After an hour, all I had to show was a number of different sized Emperor Dragonfly nymphs along with a couple of Hairy dragonfly nymphs and Red eyed Damselfly nymphs. I was starting to think that this species was going to elude me when at last as I sifted through some mud in the net, a familiar shape started to appear. I could see straight away that it was likely to be a Black tailed Skimmer nymph and pretty much fully grown as well. A check through the hand lens provided me with a few key features confirming that I had caught my target. I continued on for a while longer where I netted a further smaller Black tailed Skimmer nymph. With the strong wind not letting up, I called it a day and returned my catch but decided to take home the larger Black tailed Skimmer nymph to study and photograph before I later returned it to the area I had caught it. With a tank already prepared, I then spent the afternoon capturing a few images of this nymph which hopefully show of some of the key features, that being the very shallow serrations to the labial palps, the rectangular shaped head and the lack of dorsal spines on S7 and in particular, S8. I'm hoping for some slightly better weather this weekend where I will be hopefully be out in pursuit of trying to improve my images of the Broad bodied Chaser nymph as well as continuing my quest for a Small Red eyed Damselfly nymph.

 

 Black tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) nymph, top view

showing rectangular shaped head (22mm)

 

 Black tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) nymph, top view

showing rectangular shaped head (22mm)

 

 Black tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) nymph, top view

showing rectangular shaped head (22mm)

 

 Black tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) nymph, top view

showing rectangular shaped head (22mm)

  Black tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) nymph showing

very shallow serrations to the Labial Palps (22mm)

 

 Black tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) nymph showing

 lack of dorsal spines on S7 and S8 (22mm)

  Black tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) nymph showing

 lack of dorsal spines on S7 and S8 (22mm)

 

Black tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) Nymph, side view (22mm)