Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Lestidae - Lestes praemorsus

Lestidae - Lestes praemorsus decipiens Kirby, 1893

I witnessed a massive mating and egg laying of Lestes praemorsus at a pond in the UKM Bangi campus. I was really fanscinated by the number of individuals...... almost every individual was in tandem pair. Just look at the first photo, nine tandem pairs were captured in a single shot, and I can assure you that they were many more tandem pairs or wheel pairs just outside the frame of the shot! During the egg laying, the male will grip on the neck of the female, and the female will insert (oviposite) her eggs into the plant tissues.

massive egg laying in an exposed pond

a tandem pair