Wild Wednesday - Banded Demoiselle
The Banded demoiselle, scientific name ‘Calopteryx splendens’ is a large damselfly with butterfly-like wings, it has a long body and a long ‘horn-like’ antennae.
The males have a metallic blue body with wide dark blue-black spots across parts of its outer wings and the female, a metallic green body with translucent pale green wings.
You will find them along the edge of a slow-flowing river or canals, near ponds and lakes, where it can find flourishing damp vegetation. It gets it common name from the distinctive 'fingerprint' mark on the males' wings.
Not to be mistaken for a dragonfly, as they have a bulky body shape, the damselfly’s body is thin and twiglike, and their wings are the same size, whereas the dragonfly has different shaped wings at the front and back.
The female lays eggs by injecting them into plant stems under the surface of the water, with the eggs taking about two weeks to develop. The hatching larvae will live under the water amongst the vegetation for about for two years, then the larvae will crawl out of the water emerging on shrubs and trees. Once flying, the adults will live up to four months.
They are fierce predators and will eat anything they can catch! They have excellent eyesight and can catch insects whilst in flight, using their hind legs, which are covered in fine hair. They also capture prey, including insects, small crustaceans, and tiny fish by using a modified lower lip (called a labium) that shoots out rapidly and seizes the prey.
They are common, with their range of habitat expanding, but they are still threats to the species including pollution, intensive dredging, the removal of bankside vegetation and where water supplies diminish through drought or where companies abstract water from rivers, to use for other purposes, such as (treated) drinking water.
Read more here: Banded demoiselle | The Wildlife Trusts