Posted by Daniel Loomis on August 10, 2009 at 9:50 PM
Dragonfly at Village Creek Drying Beds, Fort Worth. I don't know names for these, so someone will have to help with ID. Closest I can get is <i>Brachymesia gravida</i>, Four Spotted Pennant.
40D
f/10
700mm
1/500s
ISO 200
40% crop
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on August 10, 2009 at 11:28 PM
Dragonflies are a marvel of engineering to me. I'm no help with the ID, Charlie?
Nice work, Daniel - especially pleasing background color. Sorry, can't help with the ID.
Posted by Richard Lee on August 11, 2009 at 11:26 AM
Very nice photograph, Daniel; makes ID much easier. It's a nice example of a Four-spotted Pennant (Brachymesia gravida) male.
Posted by Daniel Loomis on August 11, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Richard - What marks it as a male of the species? I confess that I failed to take any entymology courses as an undergrad . . . which I now regret.
Posted by Richard Lee on August 11, 2009 at 8:35 PM
Daniel,
Like birds, many dragonfly species have male and females that have different colors. In this case the female Four-spotted Pennant has a thorax and abdomen that are a bright red-orange color with black markings, The little white rectangles on the front wingtips (pterostigma) are also helpful in the ID and help differentiate the 4-spottedPennant from some similar species. Like birds, immature dragonflies can also have a different coloration than adults .
In my opinion, one of the best books on dragonflies for our area is:
"Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States - Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico" by John C. Abbott Princeton University Press 2005.
Hope this helps.
Dick Lee
Posted by Daniel Loomis on August 11, 2009 at 9:44 PM
Dick - Thanks. I will see about getting a copy of the Abbott publication.
Posted by Charles Mills on August 11, 2009 at 10:56 PM
I've been busy both at home (working on a new bird checklist for Arkansas) and at work the past couple of days so I'm late getting to this party. Yes, this is a fine image of a male Four-spotted Pennant. Besides John Abbott's book, may I also recommend a website of his: www.odonatacentral.org It has more photos for each species and updated distribution maps, etc.
Discussion
7 replies40D
f/10
700mm
1/500s
ISO 200
40% crop
Like birds, many dragonfly species have male and females that have different colors. In this case the female Four-spotted Pennant has a thorax and abdomen that are a bright red-orange color with black markings, The little white rectangles on the front wingtips (pterostigma) are also helpful in the ID and help differentiate the 4-spottedPennant from some similar species. Like birds, immature dragonflies can also have a different coloration than adults .
In my opinion, one of the best books on dragonflies for our area is:
"Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States - Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico" by John C. Abbott Princeton University Press 2005.
Hope this helps.
Dick Lee