Art + Poetry, two of my faves to join together.
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The Dragon-Fly
Today I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Thro’ crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.
--- Alfred Lord Tennyson
Before bats, before birds, before pterosaurs, a dragonfly-like insect was probably the first thing to fly on Earth. Dragonflies are the strongest flyers in the insect world—reaching speeds of up to 30 mph and among the few animals that can hover. (PBS)
Dragonflies undergo “incomplete metamorphosis” which means that they don’t go through a pupal phase like a butterfly. A dragonfly nymph hatches from an egg looking somewhat like a tiny adult, but without wings. The nymphs go through a series of molts, shedding their skin. Each of these molts is called an instar. The nymph comes “from the wells where he did lie” in the final instar before becoming an adult, or imago.
The nymph must shed its exoskeleton to reveal a new, winged body. A split forms dorsally on the thorax just above the wing pads and somehow the imago must pump fluid into the wings so they will expand and harden.
Nature is AMAZING.
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Fascinating! Thanks for sharing. Dragonflies remind me of my childhood with my (now deceased) grandmother. We used to walk a dirt road to a small pond with our sugarcane poles to fish, and dragonflies loved lighting on our red & white bobs! ☀️
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What a beautiful memory to have of your grandma! Sounds like you live down south?
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I was born in the South, but live in the Southwest now. ☀️
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Me too! I’ve been to the otherwordly Petrified Forest, Zion, and Joshua Tree.
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