Odonate

                                                                       Odonata 

• Large, with long bodies.
• Large eyes with up to 30,000 ommatidia (facets).
• Minute antennae.
• Specialised mouthparts with strong teeth.
• Legs end in a powerful pair of claws.
• Two pairs of similar wings finely veined.
• 4,900 species worldwide, 130 European, 45 British Isles.
• Fossil record goes back over 300 million years.

Adults are strong fliers and eat other insects, especially mosquitos black flies and other small flies, that they catch. They have a row of stiff bristles on either side of their legs, so the three pairs form a basket to scoop flying prey. BUT because of the positioning of the front legs Odonata cannot walk or crawl. Males are highly territorial, and will chase off other males.

Dragonfly flight speed has been recorded as 7.0 metres per second with a wingbeat of 38 per second.

Females and males of the same species are often different colours, and younger adults are usually a paler colour than older ones.

They have about 10 or 11 abdominal segments. All males have a pair of claspers on segment 10, and their reproductive organs on segment 2 or 3. In females the ovipositor is in segment 8 or 9. When adults die the colours fade very quickly, and in many species the powdery blue colouration easily rubs off.

Smith, L. (n.d.). Odonata (dragonflies 1, 2, and damselflies). Retrieved June 20, 2017, from http://www.bumblebee.org/invertebrates/Odonata.htm