Fascinating Dragonflies: Masters of the Skies

1. Dragonflyλιβελούλα

2. The body of a dragonfly • large eyes on the head • two pairs of strong, transparent wings • elongated body: long abdomen and short thorax

3. 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

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFQBsSF8ktw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uFeo_fh3uA

5. Dragonflies live on every continent except Antarctica. • There are 5680 known species, but “only” 85 live in middle Europe

6. 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.

7. 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

9. Evolution • Around 300 million years ago dragonflies were some of the first winged insects to evolve

10. 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

11. Eating habits - Larvae • During the larval stage they eat just about anything • tadpoles, mosquitoes, fish, other insect larvae and even each other

12. 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

13. 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.