For the random theme today I am covering Dragonflies. I find them to be amazing insects and just love to sit and watch them zoom around and skimming the water at breakneck speeds. If you look at them up close you can see why they were called dragonflies. Imagine seeing a giant dragonfly coming towards you.
Darner Dragonflies (Aeschnidae) is South Africa’s largest dragonflies and grow to a length of 40 – 80 millimetres and a wingspan of up to 140mm. They are aggressive predators and feed on other dragonflies and insects.
Skimmer Dragonflies (Libellulidea) are found throughout South Africa and is the most common family of dragonflies. They feed on other insects and grow to a size of 15 – 35 millimeters long.
The Damselfly (Zygoptera) is also found throughout South Africa. The difference between dragonflies and damselflies is that the damselfly’s wings are folded back above the abdomen when at rest while the dragonfly’s are held horizontally. Damselflies can be found in bright blue, red and yellow colours.
Snap. What are the odds. At you gave informatio on them. I did the man speak thing 🙂
Well – thanks both of you for the dragonfly lesson!!! Beautiful colours – I didn’t realise they were so colourful! Psst – have nominated you twice! .. for True Friendship Award – ‘cos you always have something nice to say on mine (!) and the Fab Blog Award – ‘cos I just love your photos and info of PE and surrounds! They are quite feminine though 🙂 sorry about that but it’s the thought that counts … I wonder if they have male ones!
Beautiful pictures! I would love the photograph one of them, but they move much too fast (and I’m a little nervous around flying insects, LOL).
Interesting! I love to watch Dragonflies. They faxcinate me – and our border collie just LOVES to chase them beside the pool – they’re too quick for her though! LOL!
GORGEOUS!