Today we’ll consider two cousins that we saw on Wednesday (October 16). We suspect that they were the last of their kind that we’ll see here in 2019. Each is well under two inches long and both are members of the famous Odonata family, but there the similarity stops.
The one shown above apparently is a Blue-Fronted Dancer, a Damselfly that slowly rises and dips in flight, as if doing a solitary waltz. Below, we see an apparent Autumn Meadowhawk, a Dragonfly that skims over the ground and water like a strafing fighter plane.
The physical differences between all Damselfly and all Dragonfly members of the Family are most easily seen when the cousins are resting: The smaller Damsels politely fold their wings together above their bodies; the impatient Dragons hold their wings out, ready to leave.
There are other differences: Damsels have “bugged” eyes with spaces between them, while Dragons have larger, wrap-around eyes; the Damsels’ two sets of wings are usually the same size and shape, while the Dragons’ hind wings are larger than their front ones; the Damsels’ delicate abdomens seem to be brittle-thin, while the Dragons’ stouter abdomens are sturdy-looking.
(Brooklin, Maine)