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

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

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.