Question: How does this species reproduce?

Emperor Dragonfly answered on 3 Nov 2017:

When we see dragonflies flying they are really only concerned with two things – food and finding a mate. The males of the Emperor Dragonfly “hawk” up and down a section of riverbank or pond that has lots of flying food (mostly gnats and mosquitoes) and lots of good places to lay eggs -which makes them great to watch – even if you think he’d flown away, the likelihood is that he’ll be back to defend his territory.

If a female comes along the male might think she is food at first, but once he has had a good look at her with his big round eyes he will try to mate… Only if she has fed well (usually away from the river, to avoid all those other suitors) AND he has a territory with good egg laying spots will they mate.

After mating the female lays her eggs on floating vegetation, and the eggs hatch into mini-monsters known as nymphs that eat anything they can catch – they grow so quickly that soon they are eating things as big as tadpoles and fish fry! The nymphs spend the winter hibernating in the mud and in late spring / summer emerge from the goop to transform into a spectacular adult… and so it goes!