| Dragonflies are mostly found where water
is plentiful. They usually have bright transparent colors. Dragonflies
are different than damselflies in many ways. Damselflies have a weak fluttery
flight while dragonflies are pretty strong fliers. The Damselfly's eyes
are far apart while the eyes of dragonflies touch at the top of their
head; and a dragonfly's wings stick out away from the body at a 180 degree
angle while damselfly's wings are held close to the body. There are many species of dragonflies and damselflies all over the world. There is the Emperor Dragonfly, the Brown Hawker, and the Hairy Dragonfly just to name a few. Here are the parts of a dragonfly and damselfly: |
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| The damselfly lays eggs
that are laid either on top of the water or underneath the surface.
At one end of the egg there is a tiny hole where the larvae will
hatch. The larvae would probably hatch one to three weeks later.
Larvae must repeatedly shed a skin to grow a new one. The time
between these periods are called "instars", and the
amount of instars to full development are 8 to 15. Dragonfly's
larvae are bullet shaped if they live around water plants or
flattened if they live in bottom deposits. Damselflies are cylinder
shaped with three leaf-like gills. Their predators are fish and
frogs. While they are larvae, they eat fish spawn, tadpoles and
insect larvae. The larvae stage lasts from 3 to 4 years. When the larva has finished developing, it leaves its watery environment. While most damselflies land on a flat surface, the majority needs a vertical one. The larva climbs on to a reed or something until it is out of the water and grabs onto it by its claws. The larva casing rips from the back and the adult emerges. Blood goes through the body and strengthens its muscles and wing buds, making beautiful lace like wings that the dragonfly or damselfly will use to fly away from the water into the surrounding countryside. The dispersal period lasts from a few days to 2 or 3 weeks. This period is important be cause they will gain full color. They will not return to the water until they are ready to mate. The reproductory period lasts 2 to 3 weeks for dragonflies and 1 to 2 weeks for damselflies. There are three ways that they mate: 1) The dragonfly holds on to the damselfly's head and neck while she lays her eggs. 2) The dragonfly hovers over the damselfly so no other male could mate with her or 3) The damselfly lays her eggs in a secluded spot. The dragonflies that survive the period between larva and first flight live 4 to 6 weeks. Surviving damselflies live only one to two weeks. |
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