Were you able to identify the winged insect in the feature image above?
If you guessed a dragonfly, you are spot on!
While there are many stories about how the dragonfly got its name, the word actually comes from Old English, combining “dragoun” (a monster) and “fleoge” (a flying insect). Long ago, in the 1400s, they had a much scarier nickname: the “devil’s darning needle”! By the 1600s, people finally settled on calling them dragonflies. Around the world, different cultures have amazing beliefs about them. The Japanese see them as symbols of power and victory. Native American tribes view them as a sign of purity.
How about the one given below?
You might have guessed this as a dragonfly too, but this isn’t one. It is actually a damselfly! Many people mistake damselfly as baby dragonflies or even female dragonflies. While they look similar and belong to the exact same taxonomic order called Odonata, they are entirely different insects.
The monsoon season doesn’t just bring rain, it also creates a perfect habitat for nature’s greatest predators of flying insects! As ponds and other water bodies start to fill, these helicopter-like insects hover around the water bodies in search of insects that fly too.
What is Odonata?
The term Odonata is derived from the Greek word odonto, meaning “tooth”. This name was given because the adult insects possess strong teeth on their mandibles. But don’t worry, they don’t bite humans. They use these powerful teeth to catch and crush their prey mid-air, making them highly efficient hunters.
Worldwide, approximately 5680 species of odonata have been recorded, with India hosting around 503 of these spectacular insects! The country is home to around 186 endemic species that are highly localised across different regions. For example, Echo margarita margarita is found exclusively in North-East India, while Megalestes irma inhabits the Eastern Himalayas. In West Bengal, Gomphidia leonorae is found in the Susunia Hills. Epithemis mariae, Libellago lineata andamanensis, and Libellago lineata blanda are native to the Western Ghats, Andaman and Nicobar islands respectively.
As per biological classification, the Odonata order is further classified into three distinct sub-orders. These sub-order names are also rooted in Greek describing the specific shapes of the insects’ wings:
1) Anisoptera (Anisos: unequal; pteron: wings) – This category includes dragonflies. Their forewings and hindwings have different shapes, with the hindwings being much broader at the base.
2) Zygoptera (Zygo: joined or equal; ptera: wings) – This group includes damselflies. In this group, both the forewings and hindwings are identical in shape and breadth.
3) Anisozygoptera (Aniso: unequal; zygo: joined or equal; ptera: wings): A combination of the above two, and a rare suborder. The insects belonging to this almost extinct suborder share physical traits of both dragonflies and damselflies. Only four species of this suborder are known to exist today, all in Asia, one of which is Epiophlebia laidlawi, which has been reported in Darjeeling.
These odonates spend the majority of their life cycle underwater, but once they emerge from it, they prove to be amazing aerial predators catching their prey midflight. They even possess mind-blowing maneuverability, and can fly forwards, backwards, hover in place, take off vertically, and make sharp 90-degree turns!
The Life Cycle
Though dragonflies and damselflies look different, they belong to the same taxonomic order and share significant similarities in their life cycle.
a) The Egg Stage
The eggs are deposited inside aquatic plants or in clusters directly into water or wet mud. Odonates lay their eggs in multiple batches. A damselfly typically lays between 100 and 400 eggs per batch, while a dragonfly can often lay hundreds or even thousands of eggs. Depending on the temperature and weather, they can hatch anywhere between 5 to 40 days.
b) The Larval (Nymph) Stage
Both insects spend the vast majority of their lives entirely underwater, hatching from eggs into a juvenile stage known as a nymph. At this stage, they breathe through gills and become voracious predators, feeding on tiny fish and mosquito larvae. Depending on the species, this underwater stage can last anywhere from a few months (like the emerald damselfly, also found in India) to as many as five years (like the golden-ringed dragonfly).
c) The Adult Stage
Newly emerged adult insects are known as tenerals that have pale bodies and shiny wings. Young teneral odonates spend around a week feeding on insects like mosquitoes, bees, flies, and other small insects, to mature and gain their bright colours. Once they reach sexual maturity, they return to the water where the males fiercely defend mating territories. When a female is ready, she signals with a specific body posture, and they pair up immediately. To hold on, the male uses special claspers at the end of his tail to grab the female’s midsection. These claspers fit her body perfectly, like a lock and key, ensuring they only mate with their exact species. Before mating, the male moves his sperm to a special pouch near the front of his body. This pouch has a unique shape designed to scoop out any sperm left by rival males in the female organ before he deposits his own. It is very common for both males and females to mate with multiple partners.
Dragonfly or Damselfly: How to Tell them Apart?
At first glance, they might look similar and many people mistakenly assume a damselfly to be just a juvenile dragonfly. However, once you figure out the basic components of their anatomy, spotting the difference becomes very easy!
Ecological Significance and Conservation
Globally, around 16% of dragonfly and damselfly species are at risk of extinction. The rapid destruction of wetlands and rainforest habitats due to urbanisation, unsustainable agriculture and mining are the primary drivers of their decline. Other severe threats include water pollution from pesticides, over extraction of freshwater resources and climate change.
Conserving odonates becomes critical as they serve as essential ecological indicators. Experts highly regard them as ‘bioindicators’ because both the nymphs and adult odonates require clean, oxygen-rich freshwater bodies to survive. Furthermore, for farm fields, they are one of nature’s gifts as pest controllers, feeding heavily on small insects. Among their insect feed are also mosquitoes, which helps reduce mosquito populations and thus the spread of diseases like dengue and malaria.
If you get to spot these tiny ‘helicopters’ hovering nearby, take it as a sign that they have ranked your surrounding environment as considerably clean, so let’s make an effort to keep it that way!
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Feature Image: Atharv Anil Pacharne/ Wildlife SOS
