Not many of us will find this insect ugly... the reason being its vibrant blue color. Yes, I agree! It sure does have a very brilliant color but what is the use? Check out its head's close up and you will realize why this Damselfly featured here in the Ugly Animals blog.
Damselflies and dragonflies were flying 300 million years ago!
Today there are approximately 5,300 known species in the world.
Their front and back wings move separately so they can stop and change direction in mid air as well as flying at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour.
They have huge eyes; each made up of thousands of tiny eyes packed together. They are capable of detecting movement up to 15m away.
They are very successful hunters with bristly front legs to catch their victims and large mouth parts to crunch them up. The insect order they belong to is known as Odonata which means 'toothed jaw'. Because fish like to eat damselflies, fishermen have special lures that are designed to look and move like damselfly naiads. Fly fishermen also use lures designed to fly through the air like adult damselflies.
Ugly Animals - Damselfly
4 comments:
beautiful pics ;)
its fat
How are their faces ugly? They're the cutest little hammerheads out there. Also, the fact their larvae are calld naiads reminded me... they're like the real fairies of this world. Naiads are Greek water nymphs. But we don't need those as long as damselflies and their like are around.
These damselflies are GORGEOUS!! Ditto the last comment! Even their little faces are cute up close. I mean, WHO can resist such hugantic, beseeching eyes?!? ;3 I'll never forget the first time I saw these guys flying around in real life. It was just 3 years ago, in Lake George, NY. I was waiting to go parasailing, and suddenly I spotted two of them flitting about. I followed them and got as close as I could, 'cause I was so impressed by their outstanding electric blue and black stripes! What an awesome pattern! I'd never seen such a thing before. When I got home, I looked them up in my book of insects and identified the pretty little bluets. They quickly became some of my top favorite bugs. :} Very memorable.
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