A dragonfly? Really?

I was stumped on what this guy was until a very kind university entomologist identified it for me. It is a dragonfly completing its nymphal stage of life. It had been living in the water (the fine white threads are breathing tubes) and had climbed up onto a vertical surface where it will emerge ("eclose" in dragonfly-speak) from its nymphal skin, unfold its wings and appear as a recognizable dragonfly in the "teneral" (more dragonfly-speak) stage of its life.

Nikon D7000 DSLR, Sigma 300mm lens, f/6.7 1/1250th second, ISO 800.

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