| Dragonflies
and Damselflies of Fiji |
| One
of the first dragonflies I came across in Fiji remains one of my favourites,
it revels in the Latin name Agrionoptera insignis, but is known
to its English speaking friends as the "red swampdragon". Around
the world it's very common to come across green dragonflies, and quite
common to come across red dragonflies, but it's not so common to find one
which is red and green - in fact this is the first one that I can recall,
and I only saw one of this species while I was in Fiji. |
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| This
particular individual was quite a long way up a ridge on a logging track
behind Silktail Lodge at Devo on the Tunuloa Peninsula, which is also known
as the Natewa or Cakaudrove Peninsula. This species isn't endemic
to Fiji, instead several different sub-species are found throughout Asia. |
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| Look closely and
you'll notice that this dragonfly is only standing on four of its legs,
and it has its other two legs tucked up behind its eyes. This
anatomical or behavioural characteristic is also seen amongst quite a number
of butterflies. |
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| Here's
one of those common green dragonflies I told you about, a Green Skimmer
or Orthetrum serapia. It was on the same logging track
as the previous individual, and you'll see that this one too has a pair
of legs tucked behind its eyes! |
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| This type of dragonfly
seemed to be more common than the red and green one - at least I encountered
it in more places. Here's what I think is the same species,
but this time beside the Narange creek up in the Korayanitu National Park,
near Nadi on the main Fijian island of Viti Levu. |
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| Unlike the one I
found on Vanua Levu, this one didn't have its front legs behind its eyes,
nor did it seem to be in any sort of a hurry to go anywhere.
I was even able to move it around a bit and get it to crawl onto a stick
which I placed under it. |
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| From
this angle you can see why this individual might have been so lethargic
- its right rear wing seems to be seriously distorted. Butterflies
and dragonflies can still get around very well with tattered and ragged
wings, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to fly with such a bent wing.
In this shot you can see the enlarged end of its tail which identifies
the family of dragonflies which I believe this one belongs to - the clubtails. |
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| I've
shown you one of those all-green dragonflies I told you about, now here's
an all-red one. Like all of the remaining specimens on this
page, this one was also at Koroyanitu, however it has a very wide range,
and hence a wide variety of names. As well as its scientific
name Diplacodes bipunctata, it's also called the Common Percher,
the Red Percher or the Wandering Percher. |
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| There seemed to
be quite a few of this species here. Looking at its wings,
this one seems to have picked up quite a bit of wear and tear, which depending
on how you look at it either makes it unlucky for being in such condition,
or lucky for having lived long enough to accumulate this much damage, which
doesn't affect its ability to fly and hunt. The deep red colour
signifies that this is an adult male, females are dull yellow and juvenile
males start off with the same colors as females, and then turn orange before
taking on the red body and face of the adult. Tatty or not,
this dragonfly photo ended up as a model for a Fijian postage stamp, along
with two other dragonflies on this page. |
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| As
well as dragonflies, there were also quite a few damselflies at Koroyanitu,
including this one which could be Nesobasis heteroneura or, which
is more likely at this altitude, Nesobasis comosa. I've
seen this combination of green, blue and gold on American damselflies,
but not with a blue mouth! The genus Nesobasis is endemic
to Fiji and, unlike most groups found on isolated islands, it has a lot
of members, with over 30 species spread around the country. |
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| Another
member of this genus,
Nesobasis erythrops was the damselfly that
I most wanted to photograph, and the one which was most difficult to capture.
Like the red and green dragonfly, I haven't previously seen a red and blue
combination on either a dragonfly or a damselfly. But one of
these guys flew quickly past me soon after I got to the end of the road
at Koroyanitu, and settled on the rock bed of the creek. Before
I could get a photo it flew off at great speed, and after an hour or more
of trying I still hadn't succeeded in getting a shot. Then
I had a stroke of luck, with this one landing on the stem of an upended
leaf which was stuck in some shallow water. I had to slowly
edge forward on my knees in a few centimeters of water until I could get
close enough for this photo. |
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| Perhaps this is
the reason why I was able to finally get close - the male damselfly you
see in the vertical position in this photo is the same one in the photo
above. After it had finished mating I was able to get the previous
shot.
Like dragonflies,
male damselflies have hooks at the end of their abdomen which they use
to attach themselves to the female, behind her eyes. The actual
sexual organs of the male are just behind its thorax, so after getting
hooked up, the male and female move into a "wheel" position, with the tip
of the females tail being brought under the female's body and forward to
where it can couple with the male's sexual organ. |
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Several
of these photos are available for download on the Dragonfly
and Damselfly wallpaper page.
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