Anisoptera, the Dragonfly

It’s small and it’s fast. It’s the King (or Queen) of the insects. The Dragonfly (AKA Anisoptera) is the star of this page! Let’s dive right in!

Let’s start off with something controversial. The Dragonfly is not the fastest bug of the bunch. The Horse Fly is the real speed demon with the southern dart being the runner up! But as far as I’m concerned, this page is supposed to be about the Dragonfly!

So, the Fly of Dragons is 10 centimetres long and weighs 1 gram… 1... gram… The top speed ever recorded for a Dragonfly is 97 Kilometres Per Hour (KMPH) set by the Southern Giant Darter (which is in no way related to the Southern Dart). That is 3 Kilometres short of the top speed allowed in New Zealand!

Speaking of speed, an average Dragonfly is capable of going 29 KMPH! It doesn’t sound like much but if you were that small; it would feel like 522 KMPH! That’s faster than a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport for all you top gear fans!

As well as being fast, it is also very manuverable.  Scientists have only ever been able to make a Jet capable of things only Dragonflies can do, and it’s currently in smouldering ruins.

It’s also capable of eating its own weight in 30 minutes! Just imagine you eating something the same size and weight as yourself in half an hour! It mostly feeds off other insects like Ants, Wasps and Bees. However, its life can’t be perfect. Creatures like Lizards and Toads also hunt it. But that would not be a problem for Meganeura!

Meganeura is the prehistoric counterpart of the modern-day Dragonflies. It is the size of an Eagle! It was flying about doing its thing 300 million years ago. It can fly at 133 KMPH! But still not as fast as the Horse Fly.

So maybe this piece of writing has convinced you that Dragonflies are remarkable creatures! They are small and next to weightless, they can even fly in reverse! Would you prefer it to a household pest? I hope you would!