Wing-damaged Blue Dasher

This Blue Dasher has quite a chunk taken out a wing with lesser damage to 2 others. I've talked about butterfly wing damage in the past; I'm assuming the same applies to dragonflies too, that it's more likely to be due to thorny/prickly plants than predators that took a bite out of them. On the flip side, I suspect that wing damage might be tougher for dragonflies (or their damselfly cousins) to live with:

  • Butterflies generally have oversized wings, so some damage means they'll still have quite a bit of wing to work with.
  • Dragonflies are predators that require precise flying to catch prey in the air. Many butterflies are fine with erratic flight since it might confuse predators, and their food sources tend to be non-moving plants.

September 1, 2022 at Duke Island Park
Photo 238906814, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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