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Dragonfly
λιβελούλα
The body of a dragonfly
• large eyes on the head
• two pairs of strong,
transparent wings
• elongated body:
long abdomen
and short thorax
Compound eyes
• Nearly all of the dragonfly’s head is eye,
which gives them incredible vision that
covers almost every angle except right
behind them
• This makes them very sensitive to
movement
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Dragonflies live on every continent
except Antarctica.
• There are 5680 known species, but “only”
85 live in middle Europe
Optimal living conditions
• They usually live around lakes, ponds,
streams and wetlands
• Some adult dragonflies live for only a few
weeks while others live up to a year.
Metamorphosis
• At the end of its larval stage, the dragonfly
crawls out of the water
It’s exoskeleton cracks open and releases
the insect’s abdomen, which had been
packed in like a telescope
Its four wings come out, they dry and
harden over the next several hours to days
Evolution
• Around 300 million years ago dragonflies
were some of the first winged insects to
evolve
Eating habits - Adults
• Adult dragonflies eat insects and are a
great control on the mosquito population
A single dragonfly can eat 30 to hundreds
of mosquitoes per day
Eating habits - Larvae
• During the larval stage they eat just about
anything
tadpoles, mosquitoes, fish, other insect
larvae and even each other
Their flight
• They can move their two pairs of wings
independently
• This allows them to make abrupt changes
in direction, to stand in the air or
sometimes even fly backwards
Did you know?
• The flight of the dragonfly is so special that
it has inspired engineers who dream of
making robots that fly like dragonflies.