Dead dragons

After a bit of a break, time to return to the Spot, and with another garden pond update... So far this year, I have counted 11 skins (exuviae) of common darter dragonflies (Sympetrum striolatum) that have emerged from our pond. I've only seen a few of the resulting adults, most appear to have left, presumably to find mates, but one did not get far and was found dead in the water. I don't know what happened (it appears to be hollow so scavengers were there before me I imagine), but it does provide an opportunity to look at some fine structure without killing a specimen.

The dead Sympetrum striolatum - note the fully extended wings and broken abdomen. Also, the colour has either faded aftre death, or was not fully developed.

A close-up of the abdominal segments - the last few are missing, exposing internal structures. Note the tiny teeth around the rear edge of each segment which presumably aid closure against the adjacent segment and/or membrane.

Wings clearly showing the veins and pleating, as well as basal structure and the small amount of basal yellowing/darkening.

The head showing the large compound eyes and small antennae (bottom-right, jutting forwards).

Side view of the thorax - when alive, the large white patches are yellow. Spiracles are visible, such as the elongate hole by the base of the wing.

I have not gone into much detail here - it should however provide a starting point for investigating your own specimens (after all, by far the best way!) - also, as with exuviae, specimens like this can be kept as long as needed and then passed onto others interested in investigating insect anatomy (which is what has happened to the exuviae I collected).

Finally, here are my personal 'top three' useful (and not too expensive) books covering identification of British and continental European dragonflies:

Brooks, S. (2004). Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland (4th ed.). BWP, Gillingham.
Dijkstra, K.-D. B. (2006). Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe. BWP, Gillingham.
Smallshire, D. & Swash, A. (2004). Britain's Dragonflies. WILDGuides, Old Basing