Smart Damselfly

I was about to take a photo of a praying mantis nymph when this damsel fly alighted nearby. I quickly changed my focus, but so too did the mantis. In an instant she made a grab at the damselfly, but the delicate damselfly fought for her life and got away. I saw it happen, but didn’t manage to capture the action. If you look carefully you may see part of the mantis in the top right corner of this shot. It is very well camouflaged against the big leaf. Its body is as wide as the length of the damsefly’s head and thorax, and two mantis legs are visible.

The damselfly is a female redcoat, not so colourful as the male.

Another visitor today was a very dilapidated red admiral butterfly. See extra shot. Like the damselfly it is endemic to New Zealand.