Female Dragonflies Fake Their Own Death to Avoid Males
Courting can be exhausting for female moorland hawker dragonflies. When pursued by overeager males after mating, a female will suddenly freeze in mid-air, crash to the ground, and lie completely motionless. Believing she is dead, the aggressive pursuer flies away. Once the coast is clear, the female simply gets up and flies off to lay her eggs in peace.
The High Cost of Unwanted Attention
In the insect world, reproduction is rarely a gentle affair. For the female moorland hawker dragonfly (Aeshna juncea), the process of laying eggs can quickly turn into a perilous ordeal. Unlike certain dragonfly species where males form protective tandems or guard their mates while they deposit eggs, female moorland hawkers generally oviposit alone. This solitary habit leaves them exposed to aggressive, patrolling males searching the breeding waters for receptive partners.
A single mating provides a female moorland hawker with all the sperm she needs to fertilize her entire clutch of eggs. Subsequent matings offer her no evolutionary advantage; instead, they carry steep biological costs. Forced copulations can result in physical injury, deplete critical energy reserves, and expose the female to aquatic and aerial predators. Furthermore, interruptions prevent her from completing the delicate task of embedding eggs into damp moss and aquatic vegetation.
The Art of the Aerial Crash
To escape persistent suitors, female moorland hawkers rely on an extreme behavioral tactic: they fake their own death. When an approaching male pursues a female in flight, refusing to heed standard rejection cues, the female may abruptly stop beating her wings mid-air. She enters a state of tonic immobility, plummeting directly out of the sky and crashing into the surrounding bog vegetation or ground.
Once on the ground, the female remains entirely motionless, lying upside down or on her side among the reeds. Male moorland hawkers rely heavily on motion and visual flight patterns to detect and track potential mates. Unable to locate the moving target or engage with an inert body, the pursuing male typically hovers for a brief moment before flying away to continue searching elsewhere. Once the suitor has departed, the female rightens herself, takes flight, and resumes her egg-laying in relative peace.