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Sunday, August 28, 2016

MATING OF DAMSELFLIES, TOMMY THOMPSON PARK, TORONTO, ON

   These two different pairs of male and female damselflies are in the Pond Damselfly family.  In both pairs the damselfly towards the top of the photos is the male and the one towards the bottom is the female.
   In the first two photos you can see the courtship ritual of the damselfles.  Physical contact is made by the male clasping the female's thorax with its four terminal appendages at the end of the abdoman.
   In the third photo copulation is taking place.  The mating pair form a shape known as a "heart" or "wheel".  It is a continuation of the courtship of the pair from the second photo. The female whose thorax is being held by the male's terminal appendages, curls her abdomen to pick up sperm from the secondary genetalia at the base of the male's abdomen, forming the shape which looks like a heart.
   





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