The Damselfly
Order: Odonata
Family: Zygoptera
Zygo- comes from the Greek - zugow meaning to subdue or tame. ‘Subdued or tamed 'ptera = wings' may be an allusion to the damsels' ability to fold their wings across their back, in a resting position, unlike the dragonfly which must continue to hold its wings perpendicular to its body even when at rest.
Odonata, or ‘to harm with the tooth', is a reference to the labium that dragon and the damselfly fold under their head and thorax when not in use. It is like a long, sharp tooth with hooked lobes at the tip, which shoots out, grasps or impales its prey as it wanders by, and then retracts the unfortunate meal into its mouth. Some species of odonata can shoot out their labium and catch prey in only 25 milliseconds.
There are currently over 5500 identified species of odonata. While their adult form may be most obvious it is only as a nymph or naiad that the dragon and the damselfly is significant for fly-fishing and trout.
Damselfly Nymph
All odonata nymphs live in aquatic environments and have incomplete metamorphosis, hemimetabola , in that the damselfly life cycle goes from egg, to nymph, to adult stage and skips the pupal stage.
The nymph or naiad can live up to three years and during this time go through a number of moults. The stage between shedding its skin is called an instar . It is at this time when the naiad is most vulnerable and so will often hide under structure, feeding opportunistically on passing insects.
The damselfly nymph has a large flat head, with bulbous eyes. A wing case begins to form on its thorax very early in a damsel's life, which leads to a long slender abdomen with six legs and three paddle-like appendages for a tail. They swim by moving their abdomen vigorously back and forth. Upon emergence they move towards shore, crawl out on stalks of grass or trees, firmly attaching themselves, and emerge.
Fly Fishing The Damselfly
When I am fly fishing with damselfly nymphs I use an intermediate sink line or sink tip, over weed beds or along the bottom. I use a slow retrieve to imitate a crawling nymph. Trout strike hard and often, so be sure to have a good tippet and sharp hook, and hold on.
Fascinating Facts About The Damselfly
S
ome immature damselflies establish feeding territories, areas that are defended against invasion by other conspecifics. The territorial species develop more rapidly and produce larger adults than other non-territorial species.
Male Odonata have claspers at the end of their abdomen, but no external genitalia. Before finding a mate, a male attaches a spermatophore to his second abdominal segment. He then grabs a female around the neck with his claspers and she retrieves the spermatophore with the genital opening of her abdomen.
Male damselflies (and perhaps some dragonflies) have a special flagellum associated with the copulatory organ that can reach into a female's body and remove sperm deposited by another male in a previous mating.
