Lestes Dryas - Behaviour

Behaviour

Adults fly from April in the south of its range to late May in the north but are on the wing mostly in July and August. They tend to live in dense vegetation and rarely fly over open water, staying near the margins of the pond or lake. They mate in the normal damselfly manner by forming the wheel position and after copulation the male stays in tandem, guarding the female while she lays her eggs.

Elongated eggs are laid, usually above water, into plant stems, such as rushes, which are covered as water levels rise in winter. The eggs develop for a few week when, in response to environmental conditions the rate of development slows down and the eggs are said to be in diapause. In this state the eggs overwinter. The eggs hatch in spring and give rise to the prolarval stage. This is a specialised short lived stage often lasting only minutes. The prolarva has no limbs and cannot feed but it can move by jumping or wriggling and if a prolarva is not in water when it hatches it will move about until water is found. Once in water the prolarva moult to the second stadia stage. The larvae are active and actively hunt prey leading to rapid larval growth. The larvae moult from one stadia to the next until growth is complete; in dragonflies the larval stages are the only stages where growth occurs. The number of stadia is not fixed and in good conditions the last larval stage, called F-0 can be reached in as little as 8 weeks. The newly emerged adults are not able to breed until a period of sexual maturation occurs and it is during this period that the blue pruinescence develops.