Dragon wing

Identification - Neurothemis ramburii ramburii

Yesterday I had a whinge about how all my images of the day were terrible, as if it wasn't my fault. The fact is that I relaxed and didn't think about the lighting conditions, the position of the sun or the coloration of my subjects. Yes, modern digital cameras are supposed to be automatic, you should be able to point and shoot, and the cameras electronics will take care of everything - wrong.

The chips that capture the image are not the same as our eyes. They are sensitive to certain colors and easily over expose, reds and yellows particularly. Today I shot a yellow sulfur butterfly and under exposed by three clicks (a full stop) and still it was over exposed. I was able to rescue the image, but next time it will be five clicks.

My point is that when shooting bugs, you have to be on the ball with exposure, or you will be Photoshopping your images to death.

Seeing as I am on a roll with dragon shots, I decided to do a wing close-up to show you the complexities of the dragonfly wing. With 300 million years of evolution under its belt, the dragon wing is about as perfect as it can be and its features are common throughout dragon species the world over, other than minor venation pattern variations.

If you look carefully, you will notice that the wing is not flat, far from it. The wing is a series of corrugations, like a corrugated roofing panel. These corrugations give the wing incredible stiffness. If you fold a piece of paper into zig-zags and wave it, compared to an unfolded sheet, the corrugated paper holds its shape.

Towards the wing tips you see a brightly colored panel at the leading edge. This thickened panel is called the pterostigma and is much thicker and headier than the rest of the panels. This added weight reduces fluttering and increases the speed that the wing can operate. Many other long winged flies have this feature, but not as pronounced or as visible as on dragons and damsels.

I could write several more pages on dragon wings, but I think I will stop there, before I lose your interest.

Dave