As I was working on a post earlier today about an unusually colored damselfly, the Citrine Forktail damselfly, I realized that I had not posted any photos of the beautifully colored ones that I saw during my trip to Brussels earlier this month. They were not yellow in color, but instead were a bright red. The first ones that I saw were a couple in the tandem position that is used for mating and also, for some species, when depositing eggs. A few days later I spotted a singleton damselfly perched on some vegetation.
I don’t think that I have seen any red damselflies in Northern Virginia, so I had to do some research. What I discovered is that these damselflies have the very unexciting name of Large Red Damselflies (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). The name seems to fit, but it strikes me that the scientist must have been tired or was otherwise feeling uncreative when he came named the species. This particular species is mainly a European one with some populations in Northern Africa and Western Asia, according to Wikipedia, so I am not at all likely to spot one on my frequent photowalks here.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Yup, looks like a Large Red to me 🙂 They’re usually the first damsels we see here, before the Common Blues and Azures start appearing.
Thanks for the confirmation, Suzy. I was at a loss identifying the various European dragonflies and damselflies that I spotted while I was in Brussels. My favorites were the Green-eyed Hawker and the Emperor.
Lovely photos and very interesting!
Beautiful. And the green is the perfect counterpoint for accentuating that lovely red.
The red was what caught my eye, but the setting really does make the color “pop.”
Benjamin has much to say about the second enlarged photo. “He has the biggest red eyes. I love the long red tail with the little bit of black. I can see the red on his black body too. Look at the brown on those leaves, maybe something is eating them.” Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
I kind of figured that Benjamin would like the red dragonflies. I hope it was not too awkward that the first show was of a mating pair. He has such an amazing eye for details–I continue to be impressed by the amount that he sees, internalizes, and remembers.