Damselfly metamorposis series

I had the pleasure of watching most of the metamorphosis of this Damselfly over the weekend. While I missed it climbing out of its exoskeleton, its size in the first shot, shows that I didn’t miss the exit by much. Having it doing this on a lily pad close to shore let me get nicely detailed views. Each images is stack of 3 to 7 images to get the damsel fully in focus. I did change position during the series to get a better view.

Look at how much longer the wings are in this view taken 16 minutes later

Full wing development is shown here about 21 minutes after my first view, with its abdomen just starting to lengthen.

This final view shows its abdomen fully inflated, 31 minutes after my first shot. It did hang around for a while hardening it’s wings before flying off.

Wow, Mark, this is way too cool. I have never experienced seeing this (I didn’t even know that they did metamorphose), so for you to get a series of images is really nice. The details are really great in each of the images, and did a fantastic job at showing the process. Great series of shots. :+1: :+1:

I agree with Shirley Mark, “Wow!” This series is absolutely amazing. I also have never witness this process, however, I did find an exoskeleton on a plant and wondered what it was, pretty sure it looked just like this. The detail you’ve captured and the series are just fantastic.

Mark: Great sequence. I have a similar series of a monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. I’ll have to dig around in my archives and see if I can find it. Thanks for sharing this magic moment. >=))>

Wow! great series, educational. You can see the wings from crumpled up and heavy to clear and light. Never seen this live before.

Hi Mark,

The series shows off the emergence very well. I was wondering why you did not crop off more from the left in the original, but after examining the series, I’m glad that you did not crop. Looks good as present so I have no nits for you. Well done…Jim

I agree with everyone else here, plus I marvel at the patience it must have required to photograph this series. Well done!

Best,
Terry