Dragonfly
Scientific name: Insecta odonata
Common name(s): Dragonfly
Most people are familiar with Dragonflies. They're the large, fast flying insects that you see zipping along the edges of ponds, lakes and streams on warm, summer days. Most are skinny, have large wings and are brilliantly colored. Dragonflies are the most skilled fliers in the insect world -- they're also among the most ancient.
Dragonflies belong to the insect order Odonata, which includes a closely related group of flying insects called Damselflies. They have existed in their current form for approximately 200 million years (much older than any dinosaur). The largest of the ancient Dragonflies had a wingspan of 75 cm -- that's 2 1/2 feet!! It would have been interesting to see a predatory insect flying around that was bigger than most of our birds.
Dragonflies have two life stages. The first life stage -- the stage that most people are not familiar with -- is shown in the picture above. This is the aquatic life stage, or larval form, and most of a dragonfly's lifespan is spent in this form. As in its adult lifestage, the dragonfly is also predatory in it's aquatic lifestage. That is, it eats meat; more specifically, other bugs and maybe an immature fish fry. But don't worry, they won't bite humans -- their mouthparts are too small.
Larval dragonflies are found in every type of freshwater habitat, large lakes, small wetlands and all sizes of stream. They are typically found in and around aquatic vegetation, although some groups prefer to hang out on the bottom of streams, among the rocks and leaf litter.
Because of the their beauty and "showy" nature, dragonflies have caught the attention of people throughout human history. As a group, they are probably the most recognized insects behind butterflies. For this reason dragonflies are known by many common names, some of the more interesting ones include: mosquito hawks, devils darning needles, snake doctors, snake-tails, biddies, club-tails, darners, skimmers and emeralds. There are many more interesting names, but far too many to list here.
Dragonflies, in addition to being interesting and beautiful are also quite diverse. There are approximately 650 known from North America and 5,500 world wide. Because of their diverse nature, dragonflies occupy a wide range of habitats, and display a wide range of sensitivities. Several dragonflies, due to their requirements for very sensitive, limited habitats, are either in decline, threatened or on the endangered species list. Some are already extinct.
Adult dragonflies, although large and maybe a bit scary, are very helpful to those who don't like mosquitos and biting flies. That's what adult dragonflies eat, hence the name "mosquito hawk." So if you see a dragonfly sitting in the sun, don't try to squash it (you probably couldn't even if you wanted to). Let it go to eat all of the mosquitos it wants.
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Anisoptera
Family: Various -- Aeshnidae, Gomphidae Corduliidae (in these photos)
Genus: n/a
Species: n/a
Coloring Page
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Links to Other Dragonfly Sites
More Info
Want to know more about Minnesota's water? Check out our Water page and find out more about the quality of Minnesota's water.
The creature highlighted on this page was collected by MPCA's Water Quality Lab. This lab samples and analyzes water from around Minnesota.