by Wooly <nobody@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Oct 4, 2007 at 06:04 PM
Elliot Richmond wrote:
> This is the largest dragonfly found in central Texas
>
> Giant Darner: Anax walsinghami
>
> http://www.odonatacentral.org/index.php/FieldGuideAction.get/id/45024
>
> The Giant Darner is not as large as you described, but the colors are
> close. Females are mostly green all over..
The dragonfly I saw was VERY green, nearly the shade I associate with
green bottle flies. The only other color I noted was a very dark brown,
almost black, along the abdomen. I just had a look at the Giant Darner
pix on that website, they're mostly blue/brown checked - not even close
to the color(s) of the dragonfly I saw.
>
> Is it possible that you overestimated the size a bit?
Perhaps I overestimated the wingspan but not the length of the body.
After it startled me by dropping onto my head from the eaves it rested
in the grass near my feet for nearly a minute. I tried to sneak under
it (I have a 9yo who enjoys looking at Nature Under Glass). I missed
catching it's abdomen by perhaps an inch before it came to it's senses
and darted off. My hand is spot-on 7" from the tip of my longest finger
to the crease at the base of my palm and this bug was a good inch longer
than that.
Probably better that it got away and lived to breed another day.