Dragonfly Eggs Hatching

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svalley
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Joined: Sun Dec 03, 2006 7:07 pm
Location: Albany, Oregon

Dragonfly Eggs Hatching

Post by svalley »

I had been trying to photograph and capture video of the complete process of eggs hatching for several days without success. I had 25 eggs in a well slide and caught the 1st egg close to the start, but then many eggs started hatching so I got multiple sequences.

In this shot you can see unhatched eggs, hatched egg shells, 1st instar nymphs, 1st instar exuviae, and 2nd instar nymphs. Dragonfly nymphs go through ecdysis (molting) within a few minutes of hatching from the egg. In an hour I had 15 eggs hatch....lucky day.

Image

Subject: Dragonfly, Rhionaeschna multicolor eggs hatching.
Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 5x mounted on a 200mm Micro-Nikkor.
Exposure: f11@1/60 ISO=64, Diffused electronic flash.

This is a 100% crop showing the very fine tracheal network feeding the main trunks from the branchial basket (internal gill).

Image
"You can't build a time machine without weird optics"
Steve Valley - Albany, Oregon
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MarkSturtevant
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Post by MarkSturtevant »

Very cool! Nice to see that patience can pay off.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters
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Troels
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Post by Troels »

Very interesting!
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
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