1:18pm Monday 9th November 2009
By Ron Freethy
Ever since I was very young I have been fascinated by the life of dragonflies.
Together with their small relatives the damselflies, dragonflies make up a small group of insects call udonata.
All are fierce predators and that includes their aquatic larvae which are called nymphs.
What is particularity interesting is that dragonflies and damselflies are among the most primitive of all the insects.
They hunt at great speed and are even more territorial than most birds. Their eyesight is fantastic, but does not work at all like ours. There are two eyes on the top of the head and each eye contains as many as 25,000 small lenses each connected to an optic nerve.
Dragonflies, like all insects, have three pairs of five jointed legs.
The wings of the udonata are also interesting.
There are two pairs of powerful wings and they are supported by a network of vein-like structures quite unlike the structure of other insects.
We are lucky in this area because one of the most common species found in East Lancashire is the aesha grandis or the brown aeshna which can be seen on the wing and sometimes you can glimpse them as late as mid to late November.
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