Frosty damsels

The species order Odonata consist of two major suborders: the (true) dragonflies, Anisoptera, and the damselflies, Zygoptera. Sometimes all Odonata, Anisoptera and Zygoptera, are refereed to as dragonflies, but if one wants to be more specific, it is only species of Anisoptera that are dragonflies.

It is not difficult to tell damselflies and dragonflies apart. Damselflies are much smaller than dragonflies, and appear much more frail and flimsy. They usually perch with their wings closed up, whereas dragonflies usually perch with their wings held out. Damselflies also have smaller heads, and their eyes are placed far apart, and do not touch, as they do on dragonflies.

In south-eastern Sweden, I found these two pretty individuals of the species emerald damselfly, Lestes sponsa. Unlike most other damselflies, species in the family Lestidae often perch with their wings slightly spread apart, and not folded up. For this reason, they are sometimes called spreadwings and the other name for the emerald damselfly is common spreadwing.

The two individuals I found behaved and looked slightly different. One perched with its wings folded up when I took the photo below, and one had spread its wings. They also had different shine to their thorax (body where the wings are attached), one being bronze and the other emerald green. In Swedish, this species is called pudrad smaragdflickslända, which means “powdered emerald damselfly”. “Powdered” refers to the frosty texture of the underpart of their thorax, a phenomenon known as “pruinose” in English. This frosty, powdery appearance is caused by wax particles that covers the surface of the insect. Both damselflies and dragonflies can be pruinose.