David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images
___________________________________________________Dragonflies
and Damselflies 15 - Banded Demoiselles
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens
(m)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED
DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens (m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
- The photogenic Banded
Demoiselle Calopteryx splendens
is common along the banks of clean, slow flowing rivers in the southern
half of Britain and throughout most of Ireland. This beautiful insect is
sensitive to pollution, and it may therefore be useful as an indicator
species. Males are a deep metallic blue (although they may appear green in
flash photographs) and they have dark blue clouded areas on each wing
which are used for signalling purposes during the courtship display. This
activity may be seen in the first photograph, and it is a process that may
involve numerous individuals of both sexes. Mature females are a
bottle-green colour. The remaining images either show a male alighting on
a branch or they illustrate the sequence of events that lead to mating and
the formation of the ‘wheel’ position as the female collects a sperm
package that the male had transferred to his secondary genitalia prior to
making his approach. The final series show the same pair after sperm
transference – they were still in tandem prior to separating so that the
female could oviposit underwater. Teneral (freshly emerged) damselflies
are often much paler than their fully adult counterparts and a copper
colour may develop in over-mature females. There is only one possible
confusion species in Britain, the Beautiful Demoiselle Calopteryx virgo,
an insect more normally associated with faster flowing rivers (although
some overlapping does occur). However, there is geographical
variation in the extent of the blue wing-clouding on the Continent, and
there are also similar species to look out for including the Iberian
endemic Yellow-tailed Demoiselle C. xanthostoma.
The mature males of this latter species have blue clouding over virtually
the entire wing area. Females of all Calopteryx species are similar,
and it is perhaps easiest to identify them by association with the males.
- David’s YouTube films illustrating the behaviour of Banded Demoiselles and other
dragonflies may be accessed by using the following playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4AirIEc0NofX43b8X-UMfsrsUry8PzwD.
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