A
dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order
OdonataOdonata is an order of insects, encompassing dragonflies and damselflies . The word dragonfly is also sometimes used to refer to all Odonata, but the back-formation odonate is a more correct English name for the group as a whole...
, the suborder
EpiproctaEpiprocta is one of the two extant suborders of the Odonata . It was proposed relatively recently, having been created to accommodate the inclusion of the Anisozygoptera...
or, in the strict sense, the infraorder
Anisoptera (from
GreekGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
ανισος
anisos, "uneven" + πτερος
pteros, "wings", due the hindwing being broader than the forewing). It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent
wingsInsects are the only group of invertebrates known to have evolved flight. Insects possess some remarkable flight characteristics and abilities, still far superior to attempts by humans to replicate their capabilities. Even our understanding of the aerodynamics of flexible, flapping wings and how...
, and an elongated body. Dragonflies are similar to damselflies, but the adults can be differentiated by the fact that the wings of most dragonflies are held away from, and perpendicular to, the body when at rest. Dragonflies possess six legs (like any other insect), but most of them cannot walk well. Dragonflies are some of the fastest insects in the world.
Dragonflies are valuable
predatorsIn ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey . Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption...
that eat
mosquitoMosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
es, and other small insects like
fliesTrue flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
,
beeBees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s,
antAnts are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s,
waspThe term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
s, and very rarely
butterfliesA butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
. They are usually found around marshes, lakes, ponds, streams, and
wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s because their
larvaA larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e, known as "
nymphsIn biology, a nymph is the immature form of some invertebrates, particularly insects, which undergoes gradual metamorphosis before reaching its adult stage. Unlike a typical larva, a nymph's overall form already resembles that of the adult. In addition, while a nymph moults it never enters a...
", are aquatic.
Classification (Anisozygoptera)
Formerly, the Anisoptera were given suborder rank beside the "ancient dragonflies" (Anisozygoptera) which were believed to contain the two living species of the genus
EpiophlebiaThe genus Epiophlebia is the sole member of the family Epiophlebiidae, which is itself the sole living representative of the Epiproctan infraorder Epiophlebioptera, and it contains only two species...
and numerous fossil ones. More recently it turned out that the "anisozygopterans" form a
paraphyleticA group of taxa is said to be paraphyletic if the group consists of all the descendants of a hypothetical closest common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups of descendants...
assemblage of
morphologicallyIn biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
primitive relatives of the Anisoptera. Thus, the Anisoptera (true dragonflies) are reduced to an infraorder in the new suborder Epiprocta (dragonflies in general). The artificial grouping Anisozygoptera is disbanded, its members being largely recognized as extinct offshoots at various stages of dragonfly
evolutionEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. The two living species formerly placed there — the Asian relict dragonflies — form the infraorder Epiophlebioptera alongside Anisoptera.
Flight speed
TillyardRobert John Tillyard FRS was an English–Australian entomologist and geologist. He was sometimes known as Robin....
claimed to have recorded the
Southern Giant DarnerAustrophlebia costalis, the Southern Giant Darner, is a species of dragonfly endemic to Australia.This species is believed to be one of the fastest flying odonates, clocked at nearly ....
flying at nearly 60 miles per hour (26.8 m/s) in a rough field measurement. However, the greatest reliable flight speed records are for other types of insects. In general, large dragonflies like the hawkers have a maximum speed of 10 – with average cruising speed of about 4.5 metres per second (10.1 mph).
Dragonflies and damselflies
DamselfliesDamselflies are insects in the order Odonata. Damselflies are similar to dragonflies, but the adults can be distinguished by the fact that the wings of most damselflies are held along, and parallel to, the body when at rest...
(suborder Zygoptera), typically being smaller than dragonflies, are sometimes confused with newly moulted dragonflies. However, once a dragonfly moults, it is already fully grown. There are other distinctions that set them apart: most damselflies hold their wings at rest together above the torso or held slightly open above (such as in the family Lestidae), whereas most dragonflies at rest hold their wings perpendicular to their body, horizontally or occasionally slightly down and forward. Also, the back wing of the dragonfly broadens near the base, caudal to the connecting point at the body, while the back wing of the damselfly is similar to the front wing. The eyes on a damselfly are apart; in most dragonflies the eyes touch. Notable exceptions are the Petaluridae (Petaltails) and the Gomphidae (Clubtails).
The largest living odonate by
wingspanThe wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is actually a damselfly from South America,
Megaloprepus caerulatusMegaloprepus caerulatus is a damselfly of the Forest Giant family , found in wet and moist forests in Central and South America. It has the greatest wingspan of any living damselfly or dragonfly, up to 19 centimeters in the largest males...
while the second largest are females of the dragonfly
Tetracanthagyna plagiata . The female
T. plagiata is probably the heaviest living odonate.
Common species
Northern hemisphere
- Emperor
The Emperor Dragonfly or Blue Emperor, Anax imperator, is a large and powerful species of hawker dragonfly of the family Aeshnidae, averaging in length. It is found mainly in Europe and nearby Africa and Asia...
, Anax imperator
- Keeled Skimmer
The Keeled Skimmer, Orthetrum coerulescens, is a species of European dragonfly. This species resembles the Black-tailed Skimmer but is slimmer and the male has no black tip. Females and immature males lack the black abdominal pattern...
, Orthetrum coerulescens
- Black-tailed Skimmer
The Black-tailed Skimmer, Orthetrum cancellatum, is a European and Asian dragonfly. It occurs nearly all over Europe except northern UK and Scandinavia, to the east the range extends to Kashmir and Mongolia....
, Orthetrum cancellatum
- Common Whitetail
The Common Whitetail or Long-tailed Skimmer is a common dragonfly across much of North America, with a striking and unusual appearance. The male's chunky white body , combined with the brownish-black bands on its otherwise translucent wings, give it a checkered look...
, Libellula lydia
- Migrant Hawker
The Migrant Hawker is one of the smaller species of hawker dragonflies. It can be found away from water but for breeding it prefers still or slow-flowing water and can tolerate brackish sites. The flight period is from July to the end of October. A. mixta occurs in North Africa, southern and...
, Aeshna mixta
- Azure Hawker
The Azure Hawker is one of the smaller species of hawker dragonflies, . The flight period is from late May to August...
, Aeshna caerulea
- Southern Hawker
The Southern Hawker or Blue Darner is a long species of hawker dragonfly.It is large, with a long body. It has green markings on the black bodies, and the male also has blue spots on the abdomen....
, Aeshna cyanea
- Norfolk Hawker
Aeshna isoceles is a small hawker dragonfly that is found in Europe, mostly around the Mediterranean, and the lowlands of North Africa. Its common name in English is Green-eyed Hawker. In Britain it is a rare and local species and is known as the Norfolk Hawker...
, Aeshna isosceles
- Common Hawker
The Common Hawker or Sedge Darner is one of the larger species of hawker dragonflies. It is native to Eurasia and northern North America. The flight period is from June to early October.It is long with a brown body...
, Aeshna juncea
- Red-veined Darter
The Red-veined Darter is a dragonfly of the genus Sympetrum. It is a common species in southern Europe and from the 1990s onwards has increasingly been found in northwest Europe, including Britain and Ireland. Its name is sometimes spelt fonscolombei instead of fonscolombii but Askew gives the...
, Sympetrum fonscolombii
- Common Darter
The Common Darter is a dragonfly of the family Libellulidae native to Eurasia. It is one of the most common dragonflies in Europe, occurring in a wide variety of water bodies, though with a preference for breeding in still water such as ponds and lakes...
, Sympetrum striolatum
- Vagrant Darter
The Vagrant Darter, Sympetrum vulgatum, is a European dragonfly. The species takes it English name from its habit of occasionally appearing as a rare vagrant north of its normal range. However, it likely to be under-recorded because it is very similar to the Common Darter, S. striolatum.In central...
, Sympetrum vulgatum |
Yellow-winged DarterThe yellow-winged darter, Sympetrum flaveolum, is a dragonfly found in Europe and mid and Northern China. Breeding is confined to stagnant water, usually in peat bogs. Although not resident in the United Kingdom it occasionally migrates there in some numbers. Such 'Invasion Years' occurred in 1906,...
, Sympetrum flaveolum
Broad-bodied ChaserThe Broad-bodied Chaser, Libellula depressa, is one of the most common dragonflies in Europe and central Asia. It is very distinctive with a very broad flattened abdomen, four wing patches and, in the male, the abdomen becomes pruinose blue....
, Libellula depressa
Four-spotted ChaserThe Four-spotted Chaser , known in North America as the Four-spotted Skimmer, is a dragonfly of the family Libellulidae found frequently throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....
, Libellula quadrimaculata
Scarce ChaserThe Scarce Chaser, Libellula fulva, is a species of dragonfly. The adult male has a bright blue abdomen with patches of black, while the adult female and juvenile male each have a bright orange abdomen. It is about 45 mm in length with an average wingspan of 74 mm. It is distributed throughout Europe...
, Libellula fulva
Green DarnerThe Green Darner or Common Green Darner , after its resemblance to a darning-needle, is a species of dragonfly in the family Aeshnidae. One of the most common and abundant species throughout North America and its range south to Panama. It is well known for its great migration distance from the...
, Anax junius
Downy EmeraldThe downy emerald is a species of dragonfly. It is metallic green and bronze in color, and its thorax is coated with fine hairs, hence its name. Like most other emeralds, the downy emerald has bright shiny green eyes...
, Cordulia aenea
Blue-eyed DarnerThe Blue-eyed Darner is a dragonfly of the family Aeshnidae.The Blue-eyed Darner is a common dragonfly of the western United States commonly sighted in the sagebrush steppe of the Snake River Plain, occurring east to the Midwest from central Canada and the Dakotas south to west Texas and Oklahoma...
, Aeshna multicolor
Roseate SkimmerThe Roseate Skimmer is a common southern dragonfly. The male of the species has a rose pink and red/maroon colored abdomen. Females of the species have orange-brown abdomens with clear orangish veins and a brownish thorax with a light stripe down back...
, Orthemis ferruginea
Widow SkimmerThe Widow Skimmer is one of the group of dragonflies known as King Skimmers. The species can be found commonly across much of the United States except in the higher Rocky Mountains areas and in southern Ontario and Quebec. Adults have a steely blue body area but juveniles are yellow with brown...
, Libellula luctuosa
Great Pondhawk, Erythemis vesiculosa
Comet Darner, Anax longipes
Banded Pennant, Celithemis fasciata
Texas EmeraldSomatochlora margarita, the Texas Emerald, is a species of dragonfly in the family Corduliidae. It is endemic to the United States. Its natural habitat is rivers.-Source:* Abbott, J.C. 2005. . Downloaded on 10 August 2007....
, Somatochlora margarita |
Southern hemisphere
Dragonflies in cultures
In Europe, dragonflies have often been seen as sinister. Some English vernacular names, such as "
devilThe Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
's darning needle" and "ear cutter", link them with evil or injury. A
RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n
folk taleFolklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
says that the dragonfly was once a
horseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
possessed by the devil.
SwedishSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
folklore holds that the devil uses dragonflies to weigh people's souls. The
NorwegianNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
name for dragonflies is "Øyenstikker", which literally means
Eye Poker and in
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
they are sometimes called "tira-olhos" (
Eye snatcher). They are often associated with
snakeSnakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, as in the
WelshWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
name
gwas-y-neidr, "
adderAdder may refer to:Snakes:* Any of several groups of venomous snakes of the Viperidae family including Vipera berus, the common European adder, found in Europe and northern Asia...
's servant". The
Southern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
term "snake doctor" refers to a folk belief that dragonflies follow snakes around and stitch them back together if they are injured.
For some Native American tribes they represent swiftness and activity, and for the
NavajoThe Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
they symbolize pure water. Dragonflies are a common motif in Zuni pottery; stylized as a double-barred cross, they appear in
HopiThe Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
rock art and on
PuebloThe Pueblo people are a Native American people in the Southwestern United States. Their traditional economy is based on agriculture and trade. When first encountered by the Spanish in the 16th century, they were living in villages that the Spanish called pueblos, meaning "towns". Of the 21...
necklaces.
They have also been used in traditional medicine in Japan and China. In some parts of the world they are a food source, eaten either as adults or larvae; in
IndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, for example, they are caught on poles made sticky with
birdlimeBirdlime is an adhesive substance used in trapping birds. It is spread on a branch or twig, upon which a bird may land and be caught. Its use is illegal in many jurisdictions....
, then fried in oil as a
delicacyA delicacy is a food item that is considered highly desirable in certain cultures. Often this is because of unusual flavors or characteristics or because it is rare....
.
In the United States dragonflies and
damselfliesDamselflies are insects in the order Odonata. Damselflies are similar to dragonflies, but the adults can be distinguished by the fact that the wings of most damselflies are held along, and parallel to, the body when at rest...
are sought out as a hobby similar to birding and butterflying, known as oding, from the dragonfly's Latin species name,
odonata. Oding is especially popular in Texas, where 225 different species of odonates have been observed. With care, and with dry fingers, dragonflies can be handled and released by oders, as can be done with butterflies, though it is not encouraged.
Images of dragonflies are common in
Art NouveauArt Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
, especially in jewelry designs. They also appear in posters by modern artists such as
Maeve HarrisMaeve Harris is a Seattle-based American abstract painter noted for merging "nature and the abstract". Her paintings were featured prominently on episodes of the TV show Celebrity Apprentice. Her paintings have appeared in posters. She was represented by New Era in 2002 and exclusively by Grand...
. They have also been used as a decorative motif on fabrics and home furnishings.
DouglasDouglas was a British motorcycle manufacturer from 1907–1957 based in Kingswood, Bristol, owned by the Douglas family, and especially known for its horizontally opposed twin cylinder engined bikes and as manufacturers of speedway machines...
, a British motorcycle manufacturer based in Bristol, named their innovatively designed post-war 350cc flat twin model, the
DragonflyThe Douglas Dragonfly was a British motorcycle designed and built by Douglas motorcycles in Bristol. The last motorcycle produced by the company, the 1955 Dragonfly was an all-new motorcycle built to use an improved version of an existing engine...
.
Japan
As a seasonal symbol in
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, the dragonfly is associated with early and late
summerSummer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...
and early autumn.
More generally, in Japan dragonflies are symbols of courage, strength, and happiness, and they often appear in art and literature, especially
haiku' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
. The love for dragonflies is reflected in the fact that there are traditional names for almost all of the 200 species of dragonflies found in and around Japan. Japanese children catch large dragonflies as a game, using a hair with a small pebble tied to each end, which they throw into the air. The dragonfly mistakes the pebbles for prey, gets tangled in the hair, and is dragged to the ground by the weight.
As it symbolizes courage, boys are given the name of "Tonbo", meaning dragonfly. The shape of the archipelago of Japan, as seen on a map, is said to be that of a dragonfly. Hence the leading male character in
Kiki's Delivery Serviceis a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film produced, written, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was the fourth theatrically released Studio Ghibli film.The film won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1989...
, in a non-Japanese setting, is named "Tonbo" so that the Japanese audience can identify him.
Beyond this one of Japan's former names – あきつしま
(Akitsushima) – is literally an archaic form of Dragonfly Island(s). This is attributed to a legend in which Japan's mythical founder, Emperor Jinmu, was bitten by a
mosquitoMosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
, which was then promptly eaten by a dragonfly.
See also
- Aeshnoidea
Aeshnoidea is a superfamily of dragonflies.-Families:* Petaluridae* Aeshnidae* Gomphidae* Austropetaliidae* †Aktassiidae-References:*...
- Cordulegastroidea
Cordulegastroidea is a superfamily of dragonflies.-References:*...
- Elliot Pinhey
Elliot Charles Gordon Pinhey , was an entomologist who worked in Africa and specialised in African Lepidoptera and Odonata. Born of British parents on holiday in Belgium, Pinhey made major contributions in entomology to the knowledge of butterflies, moths and dragonflies...
- Libelluloidea
Libelluloidea is a superfamily of dragonflies.-References:*...
- List of British dragonflies
- Obelisk posture
The obelisk posture is a handstand-like position that some dragonflies and damselflies assume to prevent overheating on sunny days. The abdomen is raised until its tip points at the sun, minimizing the surface area exposed to solar radiation...
External links
- Tree of Life Odonata
- Identification key to dragonflies found in Ireland
- British Dragonfly Society
- Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) of the United States
- Phaon (Pinhey's Heritage African Odonata Network)
- Dragonflies and damselflies on the UF
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
Featured Creatures Web site
- Photos of dragonflies from Asia-dragonfly.net, Africa-dragonfly.net, America-Dragonfly.net, Libellulasman.com and Odonata.su
- list of field guides to dragonflies, from the International Field Guides Database