Figures C and E are lateral views of males, while Fig. F shows a copulating pair, with the male at the top. This is the so-called wheel configuration characteristic of mating in many dragonflies. The male clasper is indexed with and locked behind the head of the female, while she grasps the male s abdomen. The reproductive openings are brought into alignment and sperm are transferred into the egg chamber of the female, where fertilization occurs.
Copulation can last for up to an hour.
Soon after mating, impregnated females deposit fertilized eggs by dipping their abdomens in shallow water or in soft muck. The eggs undergo a maturation over winter and hatch into larvae the next spring. They capture their food by means of a hinged lower lip that can be flipped forward to trap prey on stiff bristles. The lip can be extended about a third of the larva s total body length, giving them enough reach to even capture small fish. Larvae breathe by means of gills inside the anal chamber, into which water is pumped, then forcibly expelled.