Saturday, July 24, 2010

Damsel Fly


The damselflies are courting and mating in wet places at the UC Botanical Garden. They have a strange and wonderful copulation method. The male transfers sperm from the tip of his abdomen to a spot closer to the thorax. Then, he uses the claspers at the tip of his abdomen to grab onto a female. She bend her abdomen underneath herself and to the pocket of sperm the male hid away, thus forming a "wheel." Then, after the sperm is transferred to the female, he continues to hold onto her as she lays her eggs, so that other males don't have a chance. Talk about possessive!

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