Female dragonflies fake death to avoid lusting males

New Atlas ^ | April 28, 2017 | Nick Layars

[Sequoyah101]

Rassim Khelifa was standing by a pond in the Swiss Alps collecting insect eggs one day, when he noticed something strange. A dragonfly being hotly pursued by another suddenly took a dive and crashed to the ground, seemingly dead on the spot, before springing back to life and making a grand escape once the coast was clear. The observations that followed confirmed a previously unknown phenomenon – the insect had faked its death to give a wannabe lover the slip.

Khelifa, a biologist at the University of Zurich, had spent the summers of 2014 and 2015 gathering the eggs of dragonflies and damsel flies at ponds in the Swiss Alps, with the aim of running experiments on larval response to temperature. But his chance encounter with these would-be mates lured his curiosity in a different direction – was this kind of behavior widespread?

[TigersEye]

Rassim wasn't the first to notice this kind of behavior.

Dragonflies Strange Love April 2006

Grab, shake, bite, puncture, punch—that's just the courtship ritual of these dazzling aerobats.

Females, for their part, attempt to escape this boorish behavior by flipping, zigzagging, spiraling upward or downward, submerging in water, fleeing at high speed, or fighting back, sometimes murderously.

[Sequoyah101]

When they look like Christie Brinkley they can wash and set their hair several times a day.

[Sequoyah101]

75%? That low?

[jiggyboy]

It must be easier for her than pulling her wedding ring back out of her pocket and putting it back on.

[oldvirginian]

“So, now I know who was dating my GF. You poor b***ard.”

At least I didn’t marry her!
I married a whole nother kind of crazy the first go round.

[oldvirginian]

“When they look like Christie Brinkley they can wash and set their hair several times a day.”

But at least Christie put out....if you had enough cash.

[Tucker39]

I’ve not experienced this phenomenon personally. That figger is just part of the rumors some guys toss around down at the hangout.

[rlmorel]

Typical female bug reply: "I can't. I have to wash my antennae." (click)

[FredZarguna]

[fidelis]

"Well at least she doesn’t EAT the male after they DO IT..like the Mantis does..

[fidelis]

"I have observed a dragonfly using a human as bait. Dragonflies feed on mosquitoes, but they have to catch them. So they hang around humans as the humans attract the mosquitoes...I know of many a small child to go screaming in the house as the darner needles (dragonflies) were after them. When in fact the dragonflies were doing the children a favor by eating the mosquitoes.

By some estimates, a single dragonfly can eat around 100 mosquitoes a day. They are definitely one of the good bugs.

[fidelis]

[BluH2o]

Females of all species have been doing a variation of this theme since creation.

[KarlInOhio]

Will necrophilia evolve as a survival technique?

[Wilderness Conservative]

Nothing new. Jewish wives have been doing this for thousands of years.

[Red Badger]

Well, that explains all the dragonflies in my car’s grille.........................

[GOPJ]

She was sleeping - had a headache...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

A much, MUCH belated DANG!

Animals are great!

(I’m sure at least one of FR’s self-appointed hall monitors considers this a sexist, misogynist post, since people might be critical of female dragonflies for this behavior. Personally, I can’t blame them, since male dragonflies are apparently quite rape-y.)