Terrifying Beauty

I always thought of a damselfly as a sweet delicate bug... Right up there with butterflies and ladybugs...  But get behind a macro lens for long and you start to see a whole new side of the insect world.  Damselflies and dragonflies are fierce predators with jaws to be feared, if you are a smaller insect.  Ladybugs eat other insects too (usually garden pests, which has earned them the Gardner's Best Friend tag) and even those beautiful butterflies can be much more territorial than I ever would have guess before I placed myself in the observer's position.

I find insects (of all sorts) so interesting these days!

Go large to watch her watching you...

Her face is about 3/16" (maybe 4-5 mm) wide, but she let me get pretty close.