With special claspers at the end of his abdomen, the male grasps the female behind the head. The pair may fly in tandem for a while, as the male seeks to avoid competing males and to find a place to mate. Mating occurs when the female curls her abdomen forward beneath her and touches the upper abdomen of the male. Once she has received his sperm the pair will often seek a place to lay the eggs together, with the male continuing to drive off other males. Most dragonflies lay their eggs in the water, while damselflies and darner dragonflies inject their eggs into the stems of aquatic plants.
Odonates hatch from the eggs as an aquatic form known as a nymph.
Most of the odonate life cycle is spent in the nymph stage, which may last from one month to three years. Nymphs differ in appearance from the adults in that the wings are absent or in a reduced form. Damselfly nymphs have three feathery gills at the tip of their abdomens. Odonate nymphs possess a unique extendable jaw which rapidly shoots forward to capture prey. Nymphs feed on mosquito larvae and other small aquatic invertebrates.