During mating, male dragonflies and damselflies grasps the female by the head (Anisoptera) or by the pronotum (Isoptera) with the claspers at the end of his abdome. After mating, males of many species continue to hold the female and fly with her (the so-called tandem) until she lays eggs. This prevents the female from fertilizing other males. The in some families tandem flies over the water and female lays eggs by tapping the surface of the water repeatedly with her abdomen, by shaking the eggs out of her abdomen as she flies along, or by placing the eggs on vegetation.

Coenagrion pulchellum A pair ovipositing in tandem. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. Wikimedia Commons / Alastair Rae

Trukese nifēfēcon 'dragonfly' ('the one that copulates with water')