Me and my shadow
At last! A 2018 damselfly. This is a female Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta) photographed along Buffalo Bayou, close to downtown Houston.
Compared to 'larger' wildlife such as animals and birds, it is always relatively difficult in America to find information on insects. So I am not surprised to find nothing on the effects of Hurricane Harvey on either butterfly or dragonfly populations. Nevertheless it is abundantly clear to me that the triple whammy of Harvey, plus two severe winter cold snaps have badly impacted on these insect populations in south Texas.
Even in the first month of the year, butterflies and dragonflies are usually seen. January 2018? ZERO. Yet now in mid-April, by which time there should be large numbers, few species and few individuals are being noted. Powdered Dancer was indeed the only odonata found at a Buffalo Bayou site usually teeming with dragonflies and damselflies.
Reasons? It sounds counter-intuitive for odonata that need water! However, my guess is that widespread, severe flooding last August and September washed away both the vegetation and larvae vital to the future emergence of this year's populations. Any that survived were then hit by a double freeze up in mid-winter. To be positive, these are native insects, used to millions of years of hurricane and flood. In fact, they are adapted to survive such natural disasters far better than they are to the concreting over of the conurbation.
Me and my shadow
At last! A 2018 damselfly. This is a female Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta) photographed along Buffalo Bayou, close to downtown Houston.
Compared to 'larger' wildlife such as animals and birds, it is always relatively difficult in America to find information on insects. So I am not surprised to find nothing on the effects of Hurricane Harvey on either butterfly or dragonfly populations. Nevertheless it is abundantly clear to me that the triple whammy of Harvey, plus two severe winter cold snaps have badly impacted on these insect populations in south Texas.
Even in the first month of the year, butterflies and dragonflies are usually seen. January 2018? ZERO. Yet now in mid-April, by which time there should be large numbers, few species and few individuals are being noted. Powdered Dancer was indeed the only odonata found at a Buffalo Bayou site usually teeming with dragonflies and damselflies.
Reasons? It sounds counter-intuitive for odonata that need water! However, my guess is that widespread, severe flooding last August and September washed away both the vegetation and larvae vital to the future emergence of this year's populations. Any that survived were then hit by a double freeze up in mid-winter. To be positive, these are native insects, used to millions of years of hurricane and flood. In fact, they are adapted to survive such natural disasters far better than they are to the concreting over of the conurbation.