2003
Meeting of The Dragonfly Society of the Americas - Williams, California,
with post trips to the Owens Valley - Page 2
A short photo essay on Enallagma anna - The River Bluet
(photo, right, pair mating) by Roy Beckemeyer
Last updated 12 July 2003
Thanks to Kathy and Dave Biggs, Tim Manolis, and Andy Rehn,
hosts and tour guides for the meeting. See Kathy's web pages on the
meeting at: DSACALIFORNIA
Photos taken by Roy J. Beckemeyer unless otherwise noted.
Material ©2003 by Roy J. Beckemeyer. Do not use or copy without
permission.
Left: Dorsal view of Enallagma anna male. Note the long upper
appendages, which are very noticeable even with the naked eye.
Right: A male and female Enallagma anna in tandem. Photo taken
alongside an irrigation canal in Inyo Co., California, June, 2003.
Left: A pair of Enallagma anna in copula - the male had spent several
minutes trying to induce the female to mate by lifting her and waving his
abdomen to swing her abdomen forward. She finally consented to mate with
him.
Right: A close-up view of the male Enallagma anna's grip on the female's
prothorax. The upper surface of the male's superior appendages rest
against the female's mesostigmal plate.
A close-up view of the copulatory organs of Enallagma anna in
contact. The male's secondary genitalia are on the ventral side of the 2nd
abdominal segment.
There is an alternate version of this page that has two mpeg movies, one
showing an unsuccessful coupling attempt, the other a successful one, to
illustrate how the male induces the female to mate. The files are 2.1MB
and 1.5MB long, and will take a while to download. They are set to loop
continuously once downloaded, and will show up in two 320 pixel square screens
located between the two horizontal lines below on this page. Click on the
link below to download the new page: