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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |
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will find answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about
dragonflies in the UK. If you cannot find the answer to a query here
please send me an email and I will try to help.
Q. How many dragonfly species are there in the UK? A. There are currently around 44 species breeding in Britain. As the climate warms new species from the continent are migrating across to Britain and breeding here, largely in the south east, so you can expect the number of species to increase very slightly in the next few years under current climate trends. Q. What is the difference between Dragonflies and Damselflies? A. Both dragonflies and damselflies belong to the insect order Odonata, but have been commonly given the collective term dragonflies. Damselflies belong to the insect sub-order Zygoptera. They are small, weak flying insects that stay close to the water margins or water surface. When at rest, most species hold their wings closed or near closed along the length of their abdomen. Hind and Fore wings are the same size. The eyes are always separated, never touching, on a generally rectangular head. Dragonflies belong to the sub-order Anisoptera. They are larger than damselflies and fly strongly (often audibly). They fly both at water margins, above water and can be found in areas well away from water amongst agricultural fields and even open woodland. Hind wings are shorter and broader than Fore wings. When at rest, they hold their wings outstretched. The eyes are very large and usually touch on a rounded head. The eyes take up the majority of the surface area of the head. Q. Do dragonflies bite or sting? A. While many will say that dragonflies do not bite there have been many cases now where if the larger dragonfly species are sufficiently provoked, usually when they feel threatened by someone touching them or someone moves suddenly when a dragonfly has landed on them, they will give a very slight nip with the jaws. This is a perfectly reasonable survival reaction to a potential threat and dragonflies certainly do not randomly bite just for the joy of it! If a dragonfly lands on you just stay still and enjoy the fabulous close up view. Dragonflies never sting and cannot sting with their long abdominal tails. These are used for mating and egg-laying and are quite harmless. They may occasionally curl the tail and touch you with it, but they are actually trying to lay eggs on the surface of a plant when they do this! Q.How long do dragonflies live? A. The shortest life-cycle recorded is approx. 6 months from egg to death of the flying adult. Some of the larger species have been known to complete this cycle in 6-7 years. This perhaps surprising longevity is explained by the fact that the dragonfly spends the greater part of its life as an aquatic predator in larval form preying on other invertebrates and is rarely seen by people. As flying adults damselflies may only live for one to two weeks. The larger flying dragonflies live for between three weeks to four months. Many die early from predation by birds, fish, spiders, frogs and even other dragonflies! Bad weather can cause starvation as they cannot fly in windy and wet conditions which prevent them from catching other insects. Q. How fast can they fly? A. The maximum speed of large dragonfly species is around 10-15 metres/sec, or roughly 25-30 mph (36Km/hour) Average cruising speed is probably about 10 mph. Damselflies reach a top speed of 10Km/hour. Many medium-sized species such as the darters can probably keep up with the largest ones. Q. What is the life cycle of the dragonfly? A. The female lays an egg underwater on the stem or leaves of aquatic plants. The larva which hatches from the egg is an underwater predator and exists in this form from several weeks to several years depending on the species. The larva undergoes several moults as it grows. When conditions are right (usually warm dry weather in Spring and Summer with extended daylight hours) the larva will first metamorphose into an adult dragonfly then climb from the water onto a plant stem for the final moult. The winged adult will emerge from the larval case fixed to the plant stem and fly away. Eventually the winged adult will mate and breed and the whole cycle will start again. Q. What do dragonflies eat? A. They catch their prey in flight and eat other insects. Typical prey include flies, midges and mosquitoes. Larger species will eat butterflies and moths and some, such as the Emperor dragonfly, will even attack and eat smaller dragonfly species. Dragonflies consume 20% of their body weight in food per day and feed throughout the day.
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