Dragonfly
Aeshnidae
Austropetaliidae
Cordulegastridae
Corduliidae
Gomphidae
Libellulidae
Neopetaliidae
Petaluridae
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The
dragonfly (suborder
Anisoptera) is an
insect of the order
Odonata, with large
multifaceted eyes, two pairs of long transparent wings, and a long body. Dragonflies have very good eye sight due to their unique eye structure. Dragonflies typically eat
mosquitoes, midges and other small insects like flies, bees, and butterflies. They are usually found around ponds, small streams, and swamps. Another name for them is
mosquito hawks.
Dragonflies do not bite or sting humans.[1]
The life cycle of the dragonfly, from egg to death of adult, is from six months to as much as six or seven years. Sometimes female dragonflies lay eggs in the small cleft between mud or moss. Most of their life time is spent in the
larval (nymph) form, beneath the water surface, using their gills to breathe, catching other invertebrates, such as tadpoles, or even tiny fish. In the adult (flying) stage larger species of dragonfly can live as long as four months. Dragonflies have about 30,000 facets to their eyes, giving them nearly a 360° field of vision.
In the past some much larger dragonfly species existed. The largest found was an extinct
Protodonata from the
Permian period with a wingspan of 70–75 cm (27.5–29.5 in). This compares to 19 cm (7.5 in) for the largest modern species of odonate, the
Central American giant damselfly
Megaloprepus coerulatus. The smallest modern species recorded is the libellulid dragonfly
Nannophya pygmaea from east
Asia with a wing span of only 20 mm, or about 3/4 of an inch.
The Common Green Darner dragonfly
(Anax junius) is nicknamed "Darning Needle" because of its body shape. It is one of the biggest and fastest-flying dragonflies. It can reach a blazing speed of 53 miles (85 km) per hour.
Damselflies are often confused with dragonflies, but the two insects are distinct: damselflies at rest hold their wings vertically above the body, whereas dragonflies at rest hold them horizontally. Also, the eyes on a damselfly are farther apart than the eyes on a dragonfly. Both are members of
Odonata, and their life cycles are similar.
Some species
Footnotes
1. Notable physicist Richard Feynman chased dragonflies around a pool once to prove to his friends that, while dragonflies evoke a particular kind of terror in some humans, they are in fact completely harmless.
Bibliography
Silsby, Jill. 2001. Dragonflies of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. ISBN 1560989599
