- Mating occurs between December and May and the female lays her eggs any time between February and May of the following year. She cements them to underwater surfaces of plants, rocks and other objects. In areas with few surfaces to lay eggs on, every available space will be covered with eggs. The eggs are long and oval shaped and will hatch seven to 15 days after being laid.
- A water boatman nymph will hatch from each egg. Water boatmen at the nymph stage look very similar to adult water boatmen. Their first action is to swim to the surface to collect a bubble of air. Water boatmen are able to absorb some oxygen from the water, though not enough to survive. Therefore, they must take a bubble of air with them at all times.
- As the nymph grows larger, it will molt several times. An insect's outer shell, or exoskeleton, is rigid, and does not stretch with the insect as it grows. When an insect grows too large for its exoskeleton, it begins to grow a larger exoskeleton underneath the smaller one. The new exoskeleton is flexible and soft for the first few hours after the old one is shed, allowing the insect to stretch it to a size that will allow it to grow. Then it hardens and becomes darker, and the molting process begins again.
- The molting process repeats several times until the water boatman nymph is full grown. It takes about four or five months for a newly hatched water boatman to reach maturity. Adult water boatmen are about 1/2 inch long and have very fine dark stripes and other markings along their wings.
- During mating season, adult water boatmen will often leave the water to fly to other ponds. After mating, they will return to the water. Adults will sometimes leave the water during warm weather, even if mating season has passed. The females will begin to seek out surfaces to lay their eggs on, to begin the cycle again.
Egg
Nymph
Molting
Adulthood
Reproduction
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