[Odonata-l] Tattered wings

[Bob Reimer]

I was out at one of my favourite oasis in Oman yesterday and noticed what
seemed to be an unusual number of dragonflies with very tattered wings.  I'm
assuming this indicates that they are old or they had some encounters with
other predators that were unsuccessful.  I'm attaching pictures of a male
and female Trithemis annulata which seemed to be the worst for wear.  The
female is missing the tip of each wing while the male seems to be missing
most of one hind wing.  Neither seemed overly affected in its ability to
fly.  The dragonflies were on a tree beside an aqueduct carrying water
between two oases.  If you want to check out the area on Google Earth, the
coordinates to fly to are 24.50279N 55.97897E
 
Are there any records for how little of a wing can remain before flight is
totally impaired?  Is there any strong correlation between tattered wings
and age?
 
Thanks!!
 
Bob Reimer
Al Ain
United Arab Emirates
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwreimer
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