Their mating ritual is brutal

Dragonfly mating is a competitive “contact sport” where a male identifies a female, subdues her in flight, and then links to her so they form a wheel formation to mate. Because females may mate with multiple partners, males may also scoop out or remove earlier sperm and guard the female afterward.

The first step in the mating process is for the male dragonfly to subdue the female. The typical scenario looks like this. While in flight, the male approaches the female from behind, grabs hold of her thorax with his legs, and sometimes bites her in an effort to quickly subdue her. Pulling his abdomen forward, he uses his anal appendages (cerci) to hold her by the neck while continuing to fly with her in a formation referred to as tandem linkage.

The Dragonfly Mating Game - A Contact Sport