Dragonfly are  very fast flyers, can be very colourful, harmless, timid and love water. We see them dipping their tail into water, skimming on the surface, resting on twigs and darting here and there and they are very difficult to capture. T hey are harmless to humans but to other insects, they are fearsome flying predator with the most advance aviation system for aerial combat. If size doesn't matter, a dragonfly can down the latest US jet fighter Raptor in seconds.

Speed : Can reach 60km per hour.
Range : Detected to cover a total distance of 137km per day.
Agility : Can instantly change direction while at high speed. Humans can't take that much G force.

Vision : Compound eyes of about 26,000 lenses with individual sensors capable of 360 deg vision. Can focus up to 20 feet. Focusing speed more than twice of humans.

Dragonflies rely almost on their eyes to find a mate.

Audio : Dragonflies are deaf. Therefore you do not need to whisper when you are near them.

Camouflage : C olours and patterns on dragonflies are NOT for camouflage. Dragonflies employ a kind of optical illusion called motion camouflage to trick their prey.
They can move in a certain pattern where the prey will see them as stationary, at a different location or very far but in fact they are actually already closing down fast on the prey.

There are 2 general types (Infra Order) of dragonflies :
1. The Zygoptera which is more commonly called Damselflies. When at rest their wings are folded back like most other flying insects. previously I didn't know damselflies are dragonflies as well.

2. The Anisoptera which is commonly known as the True Dragonflies. They are larger and when resting, their wings are opened to the sides.

All dragonflies have 2 pair of wings. And when in flight the two different pair move inverse way meaning from the front, we'll see they'll form an 'X'. That's where the Star Wars probably came up with the X wing fighter.

Where can we find them?

By middle of the day when temperatures are getting hot, males became more active in their searches for females.

Dragonflies spend most of their life in larvae form in a pond, lake or stream. Different species may prefer different type of habitat. Some prefer shady spots, some sunny, some still water, some flowing, some prefer clear water, some prefer muddy. They live only for a few weeks or months as an adult dragonfly compared to a few months or a few years as larvae. The larvae are predators too feeding on mosquito larvae, other insects, tadpoles and even small fish. As larvae or more specifically called nymph, they instead fall prey to larger fish and bigger nymphs. As adults dragonflies fall prey to fish, reptiles and amphibians usually during mating and laying eggs when they are most vulnerable. Some may get entangled in a spider web and become prey but unlike other insects, due to their speed and agility, they are not an easy catch for birds.

What does adult dragonflies feed on?
A dragonfly can eat up to 600 mosquitoes a day. They also eat other small insects like moth, butterflies, flies and sometimes each other when food are scarce. Dragonflies are not venomous and they kill and eat by ripping and tearing apart their prey usually head first. From their hunting habits we can separate dragonflies into Hawkers and Darters. Hawkers are often seen continuously flying in circles. They scan the area, attack, eat in flight and re attack. Darters can be seen resting on a twig or leaf and darts out every now and then to attack a prey flying by and then return to the twig.

 

Deformed dragonflies can be a measure of the quality of water in lakes and rivers.

This is a female with pair deformed fore wing due to problems in emergence or water contamination.

Dragonflies in West Malaysia

West Malaysia hosts over 230 species of dragonflies and damselflies, which is roughly double the European total. Although few of these are endemic, many have restricted Sundaic distributions, occurring only in Malaysia, southern Thailand and Sumatra.

Natural history tours included Fraser’s Hill and Taman Negara.

Interesting area of peat swamp forest, a habitat seldom visited by tourists of any kind.

A short distance from Kuala Lumpur is the old and charming British hill-station of Fraser’s Hill, small streams in and below the montane forest here are sure to yield a number of exciting species and birds are very easy to watch here.

Small streams at mid-altitude are sure to hold the robust damselfly Devadatta argyoides, the golden-winged Euphaea ochracea and the widespread but glorious Aristocypha fenestrella.

A key endemic to find here is the unmistakeable Calicnemia rectangulata, which is restricted to the mountain ranges of West Malaysia.

Taman Negera is an area of incomparable humid rainforest. This is one of the oldest tracts of rainforest in the world and supports some quite fantastic beasts, including one of the largest dragonflies in the world, the monstrous Tetracanthagyna plagiata.

Time will also be spent exploring some lowland peat swamp forest – a habitat which although depauperate in birds and mammals hosts an interesting and specialised Odonate fauna.

Here is a good place to  search for the rare and local damselfly Podolestes buwaldai.

Inevitably during the trip we will spend some time around Kuala Lumpur, enjoying some of the finest food in the world (here the best of Malay, Chinese and Indian food is available) – a mouth-watering prospect for many.

In Kuala Lumpur  visit the ponds of the Botanical Gardens to look for the common and widespread species.

Odonates (dragonflies and damselflies)  are insects  which contains three Suborders: 1) Anisoptera (dragonflies), 2) Zygoptera (damselflies), 3) Anisozygoptera.

The two former suborders of dragonflies and damselflies are widespread whereas Anisozygoptera is represented by one single species in Japan and one in the Himalayas. 

Dragonfly are magnificent flying machines. It can fly at speeds of nearly 100kph. It can hover like a helicopter, fly vertically, stop or turn sharply in the midst of rapid flight, even fly backwards. It has the best eyesight among insects.

NEW INDEX : Dragonfly     May 10, 2008 01:21:01 PM