Saturday 17 January 2009

An unidentified damsel

This one's for Duncan and pertains to comments on my previous blog entry.

We found this damselfly at Reedy Lake near Geelong but haven't identified it yet. She was perched on a vertical reed with her ovipositor in the water. I'm thinking Austrolestes genus, possibly leda, but the photo probably isn't quite good enough to be sure and I don't have any others.

4 comments:

Duncan said...
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Duncan said...

Hi Boobook, your photo of the female damsel ovipositing generated a bit of discussion amongst the ode people. Suggestions were Austrolestes Psyche, Austrolestes annulosus, and Synlestes weyersii. Females can be very difficult, but SM is sure that yours is S. weyersii, apparently the females can be very variable, it is certainly a contrast to the one I photographed recently.
http://bencruachan.org/blog/?p=2139

Duncan said...

After much discussion Boobook, the opinion is coming around to Austrolestes annulosus, With A psyche also a possibility.

Boobook said...

This has been a very interesting exercise and I've learnt a lot. Thanks to Duncan and his Ode friends.