[Odonata-l] (no subject)

[Kurt Mead]

I got this email from a naturalist working at Quarry Hill Nature Center in
Rochester, MN.  Any comments about what she and her students have been
observing?

 

Kurt Mead

 

hi, kurt.  it's been a while since i've e-mailed you... it's been nice to be
able to go out and actually catch dragonflies as opposed to waiting for the
weather to be warm enough.  anyway, i have another question for you.

 

yesterday i was out with a couple 9th grade volunteers, catching dragonflies
to try to feed by hand (what an amazing experience!) and we came across a
dragonfly that was missing a head.  the abdomen, wings, and thorax are
complete, but where the head should be is just a little stump, i'm assuming
where the head usually attaches.  other than not flying around much and
obviously not being able to eat, it has been crawling up things, fluttering
its wings every so often, and staying quite active despite its loss of major
functioning organs.  i tried looking up online things that have to do with
headless insects, insects & their lack of blood pressure, etc. with little
luck.  i'm just curious if you know anything about how it's staying alive.
(assuming it was headless right before we caught it, it has been headless
for almost 24 hours so far.) any resources on that?  or on how fast
dragonfly metabolism is... how often do they have to eat?  also, it keeps
pumping its left front leg...

is that to keep the blood pumping throughout its body (sans head)?  (the
naturalist in me really wants to say 'it's still alive and kicking!'...) and
could this 'alive and headless' syndrome be unique to dragonflies (and
cockroaches, i guess) or is this a common occurrence among insects?  i
haven't the heart to try it out on anything intentionally.

 

well, i'd appreciate any enlightenment you can give me on the topic.  it's
been an interesting addition to campers' experiences this week, especially
for the nature photography camp.

 

i've been out catching dragonflies here at quarry hill at least a couple
times a week... it's been interesting to see species i've never seen in
hennepin county.  happy hunting!

-leah godtland

 

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