Green darner (Anax junius)
Arthropoda: Insects: Dragon and Damselflies
Native North American arthropod
Habitat: flying in the air over ponds and lakes in Missouri
Diet: mosquitoes, gnats, flies
ID Features: green-blue body
Natural History: The green darner is one of the earliest dragonflies to emerge from ponds in the spring. It is also one of the latest that remains in the fall. Dragonflies lay eggs in ponds which hatch into aquatic larvae. The dragonfly larvae are predators that feed on fish, tadpoles, and other insects. To metamorphose into flying adults, they climb out of the water on a plant stalk. They crawl out of their skeleton, spread their wings, and wait for them to dry. After the wings dry, they fly and catch small insects on the wing. Dragonflies differ from damselflies in size and habit: dragonflies hold their wings out and flat while damselflies hold them together, and dragonflies are larger than damselflies.
By Bruce Marlin [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
