Interspecies

Male Anax ephippiger x Female Aeshna mixta, what can possible go wrong? ;) In this cases reproduction is not possible. Although they are attached the female was striking, fighting to be released. It was this noisy beating wings that lead me to look around to search for something above the water, then i saw this happening, only had a chance to one shot, and here it is. Its a rare event, when the environmental pressure is high, and species are fighting for their territories this events can happen.

comments (2)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Wow. So they are mistaken the species for mating? I once read that they actually don't fit, their locking mechanism is unique per species? Posted 9 years ago
1. RMFelix
  
  Lion
  
  Yes, Ferdy, their looking mechanism don't fit and is unique per species. I have other photos from different species locked togheter, such S.fonscolombii x S.striolatum (or vice-versa), because they occupy the same reproductive areas. Even with Zygoptera, like I.pumilio x I.graellsii such events can happen for a short brief of time. Reproduction is most certainly impossible in all cases, however recent studies in zygoptera lead to some conclusions about hybridism. Posted 9 years ago

The Vagrant emperor

''Hemianax ephippiger'', the vagrant emperor, is a species of dragonfly in the family Aeshnidae. It is found in Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi... more

Info 9 0

Similar species: Dragonflies And Damselflies

Species identified by WildFlower