We know based off last years project from former students that there’s the basic common Dragonflies in and around the Chicago neighborhoods. These being the Common Green Darner, the Black Saddlebag, and the Blue Dasher. Dragonflies like other insects are cold blooded, leaving them to bask more in the sun, in the morning. We’re also adapting from Illinois Odonate Survey. We’re adding onto a former project done by previous students, the project title; Dragonfly Squad.

 

Dragonflies are winged insects that have “large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, and an elongated body.” These features are also known as an Odonata. Their strong wings help them hover and move swiftly while their eyes give them a wide vision of almost everything surrounding them.  However, their weak spot is something located behind them (Mikula Web Solutions, 2017, p. 1).  Dragonflies are very intelligent creatures. They can predict a movement before it happens. This skill is called selective attention, which is used for capturing their meal. Selective attention is having the eyes and full attention on the meal. Usually, dragonflies are very focused and it is very difficult to distract them (George Dvorsky, 2017).  They eat insects when they are nymphs and adults. A dragonfly can eat as much as its own weight in 30 minutes.  Sometimes the nymph will come out the water to get a snack on the land. When the dragonflies are nymphs, they eat mosquitos, larvae and other aquatic insects, while “adult dragonflies would eat about anything that is flying." They help stabilize the mosquito population. “The adult dragonfly uses the basket formed by its legs to catch insects while flying. The adult dragonfly likes to eat gnats, mayflies, flies, mosquitos, and other flying insects. They sometimes eat moths butterflies and bees, too.”  The dragonfly follows a series of stages in its life style.  They start off as a nymph, emerge from nymph stage and become an adult dragonfly.  The lifespan of a dragonfly varies depending on the species (Learn About Nature, n.d.).