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Narrative
Dragonflies and Damselflies (Order Odonata) are a very ancient group of insects with over five thousand species known. The North American area contains about 450 of these insects. These insects are capable flyers and catch their prey (usually smaller insects) while in flight. The larvae live in water and are also predators.
Since dragonflies (both adults and larvae) eat many mosquitoes, they are among the most beneficial of all insects. Spraying swamps several times a year with a broad pesticide to kill all insects often destroys the dragonfly species. Their life cycles are typically many months or a year. On the other hand, many mosquitoes have short life cycles. With a natural predator eliminated, the mosquitoes can become even more abundant.
Many species in this family are brilliantly colored when alive, but these colors fade when specimens are placed in mounted collections.
Taxonomy
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Latin
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English
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Kingdom
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Animalia
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Animal
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Phylum
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Arthropoda
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Jointed Legged Animals
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Class
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Insecta
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Insects
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Order
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Odonata
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Dragon And Damselfly
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Family
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SubFamily
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References
| Title | Author | Comments |
| Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and South-Central United States. | Abbott, John C. | This book covers 263 species found in the south central United States. The species are covered by photographs, line drawings, keys, and detailed descriptions. There are over 340 pages in this detailed work. Although many of the species are Mexican that stray further north, many species are native to the northern portion of North America that stray south. This book is highly recommended for those who need to study dragonflies and damselflies. |
| Dragonflies of North America | Needham, James G. | This is a scientific treatise of all the dragonflies of North America. This revised edition of the 1955 publication contains 939 pages and is a highly detailed scholarly discussion of 350 species of dragonflies. It contains many detailed illustrations, both line drawings and photographs, and 36 pages of multiple-image colored plates. |
| Color Guide to Common Dragonflies of Wisconsin | Legler, Karl | First published in 1995, this easy to use book contains 167 color photographs and drawings of 76 species of dragonflies (plus 3 distinctive damselflies) supplemented by 64 line drawings illustrating details. Contains distribution maps of each species discussed. |
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| Genus | Species |
| Cytheitis | rhodopteron |
| Cytheitis | schultzei |
| Graphium | arcesilaus |
| Graphium | earis |
| Graphium | hipparchus |
| Graphium | iphitas |
| Graphium | orthosilaus |
| Iphimedeia | niepelti |
| Iphimedeia | richardus |
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