This beautiful, twelve-spotted skimmer (Libellula pulchella) emerged in our classroom on April 29! If you look closely, you can see the shell/instar/exoskeleton of the nymph. Dragonflies prefer to emerge at night. The previously aquatic nymph (also called a naiad) climbs out of the water and finds a safe place. It then goes through the final stage of its incomplete metamorphosis. The nymph’s exoskeleton will split and the adult dragonfly will begin to emerge. John and I observed emerging blue dasher dragonflies last summer in our pond. It can take from a few minutes up to a few hours for this process to be complete! After the dragonfly emerges, it will cling to the shell of the nymph and allow its wings to dry. After a few hours, the dragonfly’s wings are dry and it can fly away!
Malachi and I released our skimmer at the swamp. I hope she is doing well and is eating many mosquitoes!
If you have any questions about dragonflies, please post them here. I am no expert, but hopefully I can give you good answer!
Hello Ms. Lenahan I have a little queston for you!
How did you feel when you saw a nimph transform into a dragofly?
Pleese reply thanks!
Jack,
It was quite amazing to watch the nymph transform into a dragonfly! The nymphs usually come out of the water at night to emerge. John and I watched one nymph emerge after midnight! It was very beautiful to see!
Your teacher,
Ms. L
I got excited to see are first dragonfly.
Our first dragonfly to hatch was beautiful. He was a twelve spotted skimmer. I hope our next one is as pretty as him. Our new that hatched today will problably be ready to fly tommorrow because tommorrow will have a 20% chance of rains.
Ms.Lenahan does that dragonfly have two pair of wings. Oh and my grandma,Aida said hi and she asked How are you Ms.L?
Hi Ms. Lenahan, been so busy haven’t had the time to check out your blog in some time. I would love to know more about raising dragonflies so that I could do it with my class wherever I am next year. This looks like an awesome project.
Mr. S (Bob Szuszkowski)
http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/rszuszkowski/
Congratulations on the eclosion! It does seem a bit early for that, but I guess that the early bird (or dragonfly) gets the worm. I hope that this is an early indication of the dragonfly population for the coming season…Keep up the great work!
Well, I dont have any questions but I have some memories about the dragon fly. P.s( mUHAha muhaha muhaha muhaha cough cough water water I need refreshing water.) Well, then I need to go take a shower la la la…….