What is this garden insect?

 

http://i45.tinypic.com/f38gmq.jpg

Very slender body, two translucent wings, each
with a white spot. Stands on leaves for hours.
Never seen more than one in the garden, at a time.

tia
Alan

 


I believe that it's a dragonfly (rests with wings outstretched),
damselfly (rests with wings folded backwards and horizontal) or
demoiselle fly (rests with wings folded backwards and vertical). (Lestes
damselflies rest with the wings in a V-shape.) But all these have 4
wings.

A very slender body suggests a damselfly. If the photograph shows one
resting, then a demoiselle fly.

I assume that in Canada you have a different set of species to here.
Ontario alone has 130 species, so you have quite a few to check out.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

 



My guess is also a dragonfly. They eat mosquitos, which is good, because
they are found around bodies of water.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

 

Alan Illeman said:

I would suggest a female black-winged damselfly.  

It actually has four wings.  They line up so perfectly when the insect
is at rest that you might think it only has two.

Damselflies are predatory and spend much of their time perched
and waiting for  an opportunity to dash out and grab their prey.
Typical prey are small flies (mosquitos, fungus gnats and the like).

<http://bbcblogger.thefrugallife.com/2007/06/black-winged-
damselfly.html>

--
Pat in Plymouth MI
    
"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..."     --Largo Potter, Valkyria  Chronicles
 
email valid but not regularly monitored
  

 


'Alan Illeman[_2_ Wrote:

It's most definitely a Damselfly. Depending on where you are
geographically it
may be a Demoiselle. Damselflies spend most of their
time as entirely aquatic
nymphs but emerge for a brief adult phase when
they devour huge numbers of
smaller flying insects.

They also spend long periods sunbathing (particularly in the early
mornings) to
build up their body temperatures for flight and will be
more or less dormant in
the shelter of trees and shrubs on cool,
overcast or rainy days.




--
Gibson