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This is a fascinating photograph, not only for the obelisk Position that the dragonfly has positioned itself in, but because of the name of the species – the Halloween pennant (Celithemis eponina).  It is native to North America and the West Indies. It gets its name because when it flies, these colours look a bit like traditional Halloween decorations (orange and black), especially when it perches with its wings held out like little flags. Image

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Wait... the obelisk position?  Here is the same dragonfly from a different angle. Basically, it’s doing a handstand (like the blue dasher above) and there are a few reasons why it might exhibiting this strange behavior.

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First and foremost, it assumes the position to stop itself from overheating on very sunny days.  By raising its abdomen upwards, until the top points directly at the sun, the blue dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) in the picture above minimizes the amount of solar radiation to which it is exposed.  As the sun comes directly overhead the dragonfly, it looks something like an obelisk.

Here is a young male crimson dropwing (Trithemis selika) obelisking.

This behavior was documented in odonatology field observations for a long time, and the term “obelisking” gradually became standard in guides and scientific writing. Because it evolved through usage rather than being formally coined in a single paper, there’s no traceable “inventor” of the term.  That’s a bit of a shame, don’t you think?  Or perhaps there is an odonatologist muttering darkly in a basement somewhere...

Male blue dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis) are often seen adopting an almost ceremonial stance, holding their abdomens upright in a rigid, obelisk-like pose. This is most striking when males are patrolling territory or engaged in aerial disputes with rivals, where the elevated posture not only asserts presence but also flashes the pale blue of the abdomen to maximum effect.

Yet this curious behaviour, as we know, is primarily for thermoregulation. Both males and females will lift their abdomens skyward in response to rising temperatures, lowering them again once cooler shade is found. In controlled conditions, this response can be clearly demonstrated: captive blue dashers exposed to a 250-watt lamp gradually assume the same upright posture, a simple yet effective adjustment that helps arrest or slow the climb in body temperature, as though the insect were carefully balancing itself between sun and survival.

…and we thought they were sunbathing all this time.