Dragon Bones!

I went out early this morning to weed the tomato/pepper garden. The tomatoes are long-gone and I wanted to prepare the garden for replanting. This was not an easy task as the weeding consisted of pulling out many dewberry vines and sand burrs! Ouch! After about an hour of on the hands and knees, the job was finished! The garden plot is now ready for seeding with crowder peas and the afternoon rains will set it off right well! Needless to say, I was quite dirty after crawling around in the dust so I meandered around to the little lily pond to wash a bit of the grime from my hands before touching the doorknob. I sloshed about a bit and then noticed something that I had not seen in a few years. My little pond had been somewhat active!

On the underside of the waterlily leaf pads, hung the most interesting skeleton! Dragons had shed their "underwater" wet suits and traded them for their wings! At first, I thought there was just the one but as I peered at the pond, my eyes focused on a number of the castoff skins! They were hanging on the stems and leaves of not only the waterlilies but also of the elephant ears. When a dragonfly nymph is fully grown they will leave the water, climb up on a plant or twig to molt. Their skin will split down the back and the adult dragonfly will crawl out leaving behind the empty skin it had worn while underwater. These castoff skins are called exuvia and are left when the nymphs make the change to being the dragonflies that we see flying about the yard.

I looked around to see if I could see any that were in the process of molting but could not. The dragonflies were all already flitting about the garden. I was happy to know that my little pond was a breeding place for the dragonflies. Not only do the adult insects eat tons of bugs but the nymphs feed upon the larva of mosquitoes. The nymph stage can take up to four years to complete but once out of the water, the adult dragonfly lives a mere two months. I know that I have done posts about dragonflies in the past but I thought that the "skeleton" was just too interesting to let slip by without sharing. Besides....I love my dragons!