Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Amberwings


A study of the
Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera)

A small, stocky, golden dragonfly of the Central, Southern and Eastern U.S.. One of the smallest in North America.

The male usually has entirely amber wings with reddish stigma (the small colored area near the tip of the leading edge of the wing). The full and correct name for the stigma is Pterostigma. The female stigma is usually dark with some reddish coloration. In the female the body has similar coloration and the wings lack much amber coloration. The wings in the female will have variable amounts of dark patches. In Southern populations, both sexes often have more spotting.

They usually perch horizontally on the tips of emergent plants usually along the shoreline. Both sexes are considered wasp mimics. When perched, they often move the wings and abdomen up and down in a wasplike manner.



Click on the photos for better looks at their variability.



Female
Note the excessive dark patches and brown stigma.


Female
Dark patches replaced with small amber patches on the hind wing.
Note the two-toned eye.


Male
Fully amber wings and red stigma


Male
Note the chevron markings on the abdomen.


Female
Beautiful example of average coloration.


The old style ABC wednesday is here.
Thanks Denise.



Troy and Martha
Texas Travelers

33 comments:

Marvin said...

Great shots of the Eastern Amberwings. Pinning down IDs is hard enough without all the sexual, age and regional difference. Sometimes I wish I'd gotten interested in something more simple -- something like astrophysics.

Louise said...

Marvin's comment is hilarious!

I don't think I've ever seen that kind of bug. The things I've seen with wings like that are bigger in my memory.

Very pretty, though!

Travis said...

Wonderful shots. I enjoyed all the information. Great post.

Anonymous said...

Not only your choice for letter "A" is very interesting and creative but also your photos are PERFECT and VERY BEAUTIFUL! Thank you for sharing these beauties with us! Have a great Wednesday!

And you can see my "A" photo by clicking my name.

Ciao ciao!

kjpweb said...

Very good showing! Good to see both sexes side by side! Beautiful shots!
Cheers, Klaus

Bob Johnson said...

Wow, great shots, and very informative, cool.

Pappy said...

Fascinating. Pappy

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Troy: I love the way dragonflies pose for you. They are just barely hanging on.

me ann my camera said...

I have always loved that colour of amber, it reminds me of old cellophane. Lovely capture.

Thanks for your visit to mine.
ann

Kim said...

Great shots and information. We went on a canoe trip to look for dragonflies and ran into a bunch of these. I didn't bring my camera though, didn't want it to get wet.

jennifer said...

I love this post! Dragonflies are so beautiful. We have little lavender one's at my house.

Amila Salgado said...

Informative post as usual!
Thanks for sharing this.

Elizabeth said...

What stunning pictures.
How well you capture the amazing detail.
I will try to go back in and fix my link to Mrs.Nesbitt. Thank you for alerting me.
What a technical incompetant I am!

Kjersti said...

And your photos are just awesome! Thanks for sharing!

storyteller said...

What a wonderful post! I love learning about new things when I visit, and your photos and information taught me today. Thanks so much for sharing.
Hugs and blessings,

Granny Smith said...

I would never have imagined that a dragonfly could look like these! Your photos are not only wonderful illustrations of the differences you describe but also nature photography at its finest.

I still haven't figured out exactly how one gets on both Mrs. Nesbitt's Mr. Linky list as compared to the Wednesday ABC, but I tried both (thinking that I hadn't succeeded on the ABC site) and I seem to be on both. I hope that everything hooks up eventually, although we all definitely owe thanks to Denise for trying to give us the best.

Dina said...

The first ones look like they are gilded in pure gold! Just amazing pictures, and story too.

Shimmy Mom said...

Thanks for the great information. Great pics. I have tried to get some of the dragonflies around here (we have some very pretty ones that hang around my flower beds) but they won't stay around long enough for me to get a non-blurry shot.
All of your photos are beautiful. I like your site.
Thanks for stopping by mine.

becky aka theRAV said...

Oh, I love the 1st dragonfly! I recently captured one on a grave in Indiana but mine is not as good as your's. Thanks for stopping by and for your very kind comment on my art. Glad you liked it.

becky aka theRAV said...

P. S. the 2nd one reminded me of a fairy for some reason. A tinkerbelle in flight.

david mcmahon said...

Beautiful shots.

Shelley said...

They're beautiful - they look like glass!

EG CameraGirl said...

Beautiful dragonfly. Don't they make you wonder if they are what the idea of fairies in the garden came from?

gma said...

Dragonflies are so cool!
I like Mr. Linky too. Guess I'll do both!

CaBaCuRl said...

Magnificent photos, & the amber colur is such a genuine amber' colour too. Dragonflies are my totem I believe.

Scotty Graham said...

great macro photography, Troy....great comment, Marvin...

Scotty

Duncan said...

Haven't visited for a while Troy and Martha, been busy and sick. A nice one to catch up with. My favourite insects.

Harold said...

Gorgeous detail.

Brian said...

Thank you for the kind comments on my blog, your photo also are a work of ART I would like to be able to take photos close up like yours, they are really beautiful.

Brian

CherryPie said...

These are wonderfull macro's and very interesting post :-)

VP said...

Beautiful. Dragonfly wings don't have that colouration over here :(

Genie said...

Wow, the fem in the second shot looks like she's made of gold!

Anonymous said...

These are amazing shots and they're so clear. I got my first shots of some dragonflies the other day. They're not quite this sharp. I can't get over the little face in the first shot. Just great!