IMPORTANCE OF DRAGONFLIES
Source:Sciencing.com
Introduction:
Dragonflies, members of the order Odonata, have large, toothed mandibles that might also look menacing at scale. But despite their fierce appearance, they are anything but threatening. In fact, from the nymph stage to the adult stage, the dragonfly has a significant, positive ecological impact.
Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Family: Aeshnoidae
Genus: Sympetrum
Species: flaveolum (Yellow-winged Dragonfly)
Life Cycle:
- Dragonflies lay and hatch eggs in or near aquatic bodies, so their lives impact both aquatic & terrestrial ecosystems.
- Once hatched, dragonfly nymphs can breathe underwater and uses jet propulsion-like motion, through their environment.
- This enables them to eat harmful aquatic organisms like larvae of mosquitoes.
- The nymph will continue contributing to this ecosystem for 1-5years before becoming a mature adult.
- The dragonfly has huge compound eyes that are useful in searching for flying insects.
- While flying it uses its 6 legs to scoop food out of the air.
- Clasping the prey in its front legs, it then eats the insect in flight.
- Dragonflies play ecological roles as predators, and prey for birds, frogs and other creatures.
Ecological Role:
- Dragonflies are considered ecological indicators by researchers.
| The presence of Dragonflies indicates fresh water. |
- Dragonflies reside low in the food chain, so the scientific study of their numbers & their health can reveal changes in water ecosystems more quickly than studying other animals or plants.
- Dragonflies eat mosquitoes & other insects, helping gardeners and outdoor enthusiasts.
- This helps the environment as it allows humans to reduce the use of pesticides to kill these insects.
- Dragonflies can be used to diminish diseases spread by mosquitoes, horseflies, and deer flies by releasing dragonflies in areas where infestations of these insects exist.
- These insects spread diseases like malaria, yellow fever, dog heartworms, anthrax, and tularemia.
| Dragonflies are voracious & indiscriminate eaters, so they might eat other beneficial species. |
List of useful insects:
There are many useful insects that we should be celebrating. Many beneficial garden insects improve soil, pollinate plants or kill off nasty insects that harm plants.
| INSECT NAME | SCIENTIFIC NAME |
|
Honey bee
Ladybug
Praying mantises
Green lacewings
Dragonfly
Earthworm
|
Apis indica, A.mellifera, A.cerana
Coccinella septempunctata
Mantis religiosa(Linneaus)
Chrysoperla carnea
Anax imperator
Lumbricus terrestris
|
Swarming:
When a group of insects gather together in a large group, it is s known as a swarm. In case of dragonflies, may be warm maybe a bunch of dragonflies feed together at one location.
Dragonflies have a voracious appetite & incredible skill in the air to match. Adult dragonflies can skillfully capture a wide range of insect prey straight out of the sky, including butterflies, mosquitoes and es, flies, moths.
During warm, sunny days, dragonflies congregate in their hunting grounds, areas close to the water to hunt their abundant insect prey.
