Mating Ebony Jewelwings

[I’m back in Maine, briefly, then off to the Pantanal in Brazil for a bit. One or two more Gambian posts will reach you while I’m gone.]

For me these are the most magical of all damselflies. Jet black, with iridescent bodies, the females have contrasting pure white wingtips. They flit around close to my ponds and streams.

At the moment they’re mating. It is a complicated process. The male on the left uses his abdomen to clasp the poor female by the back of her neck.

If the female is not keen, she may struggle:

maybe forcefully

but if she likes him, she lifts her abdomen up receptively:

and they mate.

His sperm is actually produced at tip of his long thin abdomen, and he transfers the sperm to his penis on his second abdominal segment. So that is where the female must place her genitals, to receive his sperm. She is up to the challenge.

Mercifully even the Kama Sutra does not demand such contortions of us humans.

PS The male can also use his penis to scoop out any sperm left by earlier males!