This is the moult of a dragonfly, after it has come out of the pond. Our word for today is exuvia (plural exuviae) which is the cast-off outer skin of an arthropod after a moult.
What I love about this picture - and macro in general - is sometimes when you have taken a picture of a very small thing (this shed was only a few cm long) you then find even smaller things, invisible perhaps to the naked eye. Just look at all the other little mites and creatures that have crawled up onto this shed, to then moult themselves. Things the size of this dragonfly nymph foot!
Comments