I've been helping a buddy catch insects for a special project the last several weekends and finally caught this beaut of a dragonfly at my house. It is a female Tramea transmarina euryale. Its flight is incredibly fast, and I only managed to catch it with my puny net because it took a rest on the front window of my car. Its abdomen looks "flat" with black marking on the top of the last few segments of its abdomen. It has a quite noticeable caudal appendage. It's body is dark orange. The male is red, but I haven't seen any around my house. This specimen had beautifully intact wings, but looks like it had a passenger on its lower right wing, a tiny little insect, perhaps some kind of parasite. It is a rather large insect, and I can imagine that it would effect the dragonfly's flight in some way.
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| View from above |
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| Side view |
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| close-up of a possible parasite |
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