Common rush maiden
| Common rush maiden | ||||||||||||
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Common rush damsel ( Lestes sponsa ), male |
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| Read sponsa | ||||||||||||
| ( Hansemann , 1823) |
The common rush damsel ( Lestes sponsa ) is a species from the family of the pond damsel (Lestidae). Because of its ecological adaptability - among other things less attachment to ephemeral (temporarily drying out) waters - this little dragonfly is more common and occurs more frequently than other rush dams. Only the willow damsel ( Lestes or Chalcolestes viridis ) is an even more common species of the Lestidae family. The scientific species name sponsa stands for “bride, betrothed” and refers to the fact that the male and female usually lay eggs together - as a tandem.
features
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Lestes sponsa is 35 to 39 millimeters long. The wingspan is about 4 to 4.5 centimeters. Males have a dark metallic green hue, while females appear more coppery. In colored males, parts of the lower thorax, the first two abdominal segments and the end of the abdomen are frosted in light blue. The common rush maiden can easily be confused with the somewhat rarer shining rush maiden ( Lestes dryas ). The males differ, however, by the straight lower (inner) abdominal appendages and a second abdominal segment with completely blue frosting. In both species the wing marks of mature animals are colored black. The back of the head is uniformly dark. In females, the ovipositor (laying apparatus) does not protrude beyond the 10th abdominal segment. The wings of all pond maidens are typically not put on when they are at rest.
Occurrence and way of life
The area of this species, which is considered a Euro-Siberian fauna element, extends from northern Spain and western Europe to northern Asia. In Finland it penetrates as far as the Arctic Circle. It is quite rare in western and especially southern Europe, but common in central and northern Europe. Preferred habitats are fishless, weedy, sun-drenched pools, ponds, ditches and moors . The eggs of the common rush damsel can survive the temporary drying out of ponds. The flight time begins in May and ends in October, and it peaks in August. The animals are very sociable; often the species also occurs syntopically with the shiny rush damsel. A population can consist of several hundred individuals. The dragonflies hunt small insects near the shore; In the aquatic larval period, small crabs and insects are on the menu. The larvae are considered very voracious and can suppress the occurrence of other dragonflies when the population is high.
Reproduction
Copulation takes place in the typical dragonfly style, with males and females clinging to each other and forming a mating wheel. The partners stay together even while the eggs are being laid. The female scratches a stem or a leaf of an aquatic plant with its laying stinger . Two to three eggs are pierced into the plant. The deposit begins above water, then the animals submerge further and further backwards. The eggs develop in the next spring. The larvae are then sluggish at first. After six to eight weeks they are fully grown and rise out of the water.
Others
Imagines of Commons Binsenjungfer can stay under water up to half an hour. In the event of danger, the larvae can shed their gill leaves at predetermined breaking points ( autotomy ); these regenerate with the next moults.
Lestes sponsa was named Dragonfly of the Year in 2016 by the Society of German-speaking Odonatologists and the BUND in Germany due to a noticeable decline in stocks .
literature
- Heiko Bellmann: Observe dragonflies - determine. Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg 1993, ISBN 3-89440-107-9 .
- Gerhard Jurzitza: The Kosmos dragonfly guide . Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08402-7 .
- Klaus Sternberg, Rainer Buchwald: The dragonflies of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 1: General part, dragonflies (Zygoptera). Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8001-3508-6 .
Individual evidence
- ^ KD Dijkstra: Field guide to the dragonflies of Britain and Europe. British Wildlife Publishing, 2006, ISBN 0-9531399-4-8 .
- ↑ a b c Klaus Sternberg: Lestes sponsa (Hansemann, 1823) - Common Binsenjungfer. In: Klaus Sternberg, Rainer Buchwald: The dragonflies of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 1: General part, dragonflies (Zygoptera). Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8001-3508-6 , pp. 409-418.
- ↑ "Common Binsenjungfer" is dragonfly of the year 2016. BUND press release of December 18, 2015. Accessed on April 20, 2016
