A dragonfly is any non-stinging predatory insect of the order Odonata, having large eyes, a long slender body, and two pairs of transparent veined wings, especially those of the sub-order Anisoptera, which hold the wings outstretched when at rest, as distinguished from the damselflies. Also called regionally darner, darning needle, devil's darning needle, mosquito fly, mosquito hawk, needle, skeeter hawk, snake doctor, snake feeder, and spindle.
I hadn't heard the name spindle until I came across it in a two hundred year old insect book I have.
My daughter Helen and I have spent many happy hours photographing dragonflies and one of my favourites is the Broad-bodied Chaser the male of which has a blue body and the female a golden brown one.
Do you like dragonflies? And, if so, do you have a favourite?
Like them, but have no favorite. Like the way they eat mosquito larvae.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved dragonflies! Well, all except the one GINORMOUS one that scared the crap out of me when I was 9, and didn't know what dragonflies were. All except that one. Lovely photos!!
ReplyDeleteThey are amazing, and while they do not sting or have poison, they can bite (a friend was bitten once, it barely hurt and did not swell, but it was a definite bite).
ReplyDeleteIt’s a lot of fun to watch them, i like that they catch mosquitoes.
Seeing dragonflies around the lake or at someone's garden pond always makes me happy! I bet that would not be the case if I was a small insect, though.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are fantastic; I don't think I'd ever manage to get up so close to a dragonfly with my camera long enough to take a picture.
I love dragonflies. No, I don't have a favorite. We never had enough water around the area where I grew up to see many of them, but I thought they were marvelous insects when I was growing up. I once found a darning needle dragon fly that I added to my butterfly collection.
ReplyDeleteNot sure but suspect my comment on this post the other day may have got lost in the posting process... Trying again: Spindle = "slända" in Swedish, and the Swedish name for dragonfly is "trollslända" = magic spindle. The only one I know the name of is Damselfly, which is also the only ones I've managed to take photos of (some years ago). So I guess that's my favourite :)
ReplyDeleteI love dragonflies and we have many here at the Pines. I have a favorite photo of one but don't know it's type. I entered it at the county fair but didn't win..never the less, I still love it and them!
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