Larval Emergence IV - Aeshnidae

Still on larval emergence........ this time, I even went further to record much earlier stages of emergence...........

a few minutes before the cracking of casing

the casing starting to crack from the head to the thorax, and the head/eyes and dorsal thorax are emerging slowly

Larval Emergence III - Aeshnidae

It is still the story of larval emergence.......... Well, I showed the images of emergence by stages in the last couple of entries. However, the very early stages of emergence seem to be missing in those entries. Nevertheless, I've finally managed to capture this early part of the emergence event.......

Larva Emergence II - Aeshnidae

The Aeshnidae larvae are continuously emerging (almost every night). They do it in the early morning, and it is quite annoying to get up from the cosy bed just wanting to witness this beautiful moment of larval emergence. One of the emergences was not that successful as the newly emerged yet developed dragonfly fell off the casing/exuvia. I picked it up from the floor with a stick so that it could cling on the stick to continue its development. Below is a brief series of the development of this individual (you may notice that the casing/exuvia is absent). The newly developed dragonfly is a female Gynacantha basiguttata.

Larval Emergence I - Aeshnidae

Finally, some of the Aeshnidae larvae I caught from Bangi Forest Reserve have emerged. Now the identity of the larvae has been revealed - they are actually Gynacantha basiguttata.

this larva image was taken 16 hours just before its emergence; it is a female with a size of 38 mm.

Below are a series of images showing the stages of emergence of the above female larva. The larva started to emerge around 3 am early morning when it was still dark. The whole process of emerging took roughly 3 hours.

So, the identity of the larva is revealed. It is a female Gynacantha basiguttata.

Aeshnidae Larva II

I went back to the pond that I visited 1-2 weeks ago, and I still found plenty of the aeshnid larvae. I caught a few more to bring back home for rearing. These larvae are large ranging at 30-36 mm. I put together 12 larvae in a big glass tank. To my horror these larvae practise cannibalism! They could take up a bait as big as their size.... totally incredible! Now I have to separate them. Below is a male larva with a size of 36 mm. I really don't know how much more it could grow before emergence.

male; the length of the bar is 10 mm