Dragonflies and their Larval Shells

One morning near the end of June, I was out in the boat at our lake home in Northern Minnesota. I saw thousands of insects clinging to the reeds along the shoreline. I looked through my binoculars and found they were Calico Pennant dragonflies. I was amazed at how many there were, so I snapped a few photos. When I downloaded them to my computer, this is what I saw. I wasn’t sure what was on the reeds next to each insect but the book “Dragonflies of the North Woods” provided an explanation. I was seeing the dragonflies just after they emerged from the larval stage and became adults. My photos were showing the shed larval shell next to the adult dragonfly.

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After dragonfly eggs hatch, they spend most of their life as aquatic larvae. When the time comes for them to move to the adult phase, they crawl out of the water and latch on to something solid. In this case, they chose the reeds along our lake shore. The larval skin cracks open and the dragonfly wriggles out. After the wings are pumped up and the body starts to harden, they rest for about an hour. I happened to come along at the just the right time to see them during this brief resting period.

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