dragonfly

( also called ‘darter’, ‘devil’s darning-needle’ or “ear cutter’; plural: dragonflies click here; for the right pronunciation, please )

a dragonfly

a kind of insect – long, slender body with large eyes that take up most of the head part, two pairs of large delicate transparent wings; grows to 1 to 4 inches long; feed on (eats) other insects, such as mosquitoes, flies, bees; lives for 6 months to 7 years (the adult lives only for a few weeks); about 5,000 species (kinds) found near the ponds, streams, wet area, etc. of the world

Special Features:

large eyes

The ‘four-spotted skimmer dragonfly’ is the state insect of Alaska; and the ‘green darner dragonfly’ is the state insect of Washington, USA.

Most of a dragonfly’s life is spent in the water – the eggs are laid near or in water, and the baby, called ‘nymph’ or ‘naiad’, lives its entire life which may be some 3-5 years, depending on the kind, and comes out of water as an adult, and lives only for a few weeks to a few months.

The wings of a dragon fly do not fold but held open even at rest.

Though the name has “dragon” in it and also has tiny teeth-like organs to bite and eat the other insects, these colourful insects are harmless.

The adults never bite any humans, but the nymph in water may give a painful bite when disturbed!

These innocent dragonflies are linked with evil and injury by the people in some European countries, but they are very well respected in the Asian countries, probably because of the name ‘dragon’ which has a positive connotation in Asian minds.

Dragonflies are in fact very useful for people because they eat up the other harmful insects, mostly the ‘mosquitoes’.