Tau Emerald: In plain sight . . .
This image is included in a gallery "Dragonflies" curated by Radoslav Besenyi.
The tau emerald is a medium-sized, black and yellow dragonfly with long legs, reaching a body length of about 50 mm. As is unique to dragonfly and mayfly species, H. tau has flight muscles attached directly to the wings, and in both the males and females the inboard edge of the hindwing is rounded. The 7th abdominal tergum is extensively black above and yellowish at the sides. The top of the frons are yellow with a dark T-mark. The species exhibits a linear relationship between head width and body length.
Nearly all of the dragonfly's head is eye, allowing incredible vision that encompasses almost every angle except right behind them. H. tau has a particularly large and well developed compound eye with two principal regions, the dorsal eye and the ventral eye. The dorsal eye is principally sensitive to short wavelength light, while the ventral eye has 3 or more spectral types of photo-receptors.
H. tau is found in all parts of Australia except northern Queensland and north-western Western Australia and is one of Australia's most abundant dragonflies. It is considered a dry-country dragon fly, often inhabiting the arid Australian inland. The adults are vagrants and highly opportunistic users of habitat for breeding.
The Australian Emerald Dragonflies female and male look the same and have the same colours. Their eyes colour change from brown to emerald when mature. This appears to be a young adult - resting (camouflaging) in plain sight.
Tau Emerald: In plain sight . . .
This image is included in a gallery "Dragonflies" curated by Radoslav Besenyi.
The tau emerald is a medium-sized, black and yellow dragonfly with long legs, reaching a body length of about 50 mm. As is unique to dragonfly and mayfly species, H. tau has flight muscles attached directly to the wings, and in both the males and females the inboard edge of the hindwing is rounded. The 7th abdominal tergum is extensively black above and yellowish at the sides. The top of the frons are yellow with a dark T-mark. The species exhibits a linear relationship between head width and body length.
Nearly all of the dragonfly's head is eye, allowing incredible vision that encompasses almost every angle except right behind them. H. tau has a particularly large and well developed compound eye with two principal regions, the dorsal eye and the ventral eye. The dorsal eye is principally sensitive to short wavelength light, while the ventral eye has 3 or more spectral types of photo-receptors.
H. tau is found in all parts of Australia except northern Queensland and north-western Western Australia and is one of Australia's most abundant dragonflies. It is considered a dry-country dragon fly, often inhabiting the arid Australian inland. The adults are vagrants and highly opportunistic users of habitat for breeding.
The Australian Emerald Dragonflies female and male look the same and have the same colours. Their eyes colour change from brown to emerald when mature. This appears to be a young adult - resting (camouflaging) in plain sight.