06/10/2026
🎉It's Wildlife Wednesday at The Winding Deerpath! Today we are featuring Dragonflies ~ infraorder Anisoptera
The dragonfly and its smaller cousin, the damselfly, belong to an ancient order of insects known as Odonata and have carried symbolic meaning for centuries. Most people love to have dragonflies in their gardens, if only because dragonflies love to eat mosquitoes. 🌾
Who hasn’t marveled at the aerial abilities of dragonflies as they glide effortlessly over sparkling streams, pristine ponds, and lovely lakes, plucking insects from the air with deadly precision?
Key Characteristics:
• Appearance: Large, multifaceted eyes (often with 30,000 lenses), a long abdomen, and two pairs of independently moving wings.
• Eyes: Have nearly 360-degree vision and the ability to see colors humans can’t.
• Hunting: Use bristly legs to form a basket to scoop prey out of the air; they are highly successful predators with a 97% success rate on hunts.
• Flight: Can fly up to 30-37 mph, hover, fly backward, and change direction instantly.
Life Cycle & Habitat:
• Habitat: Live near freshwater sources as their young are aquatic.
• Stages: undergo incomplete metamorphosis: egg, aquatic larva (nymph) and adult.
• Nymph Stage: Can last from one to four years, during which they molt up to 15 times and are voracious underwater predators.
• Adult Stage: Short, lasting from a few weeks to a few months, focused on reproduction and hunting.
💡To learn more about these brilliantly colored masters of the air visit: https://www.almanac.com/content/dragonflies-facts-symbolic-meaning-and-habitat
Dragonfly artwork by Emilia Hajduczenia (minis & waterfall-zoom in to see the tiny dragonfly!), and Maryann Diazsandi.
