Pond educational resource pack - dragonflies and damselflies

CORNWALL

Dragonflies and damselflies

Perhaps the most magnificent of the insects associated with lakes and ponds are the large dragonflies which soar over them in summer. Their slender relatives, the damselflies, are also a delight to watch. The insects in these groups are among the most agile of fliers, capturing their prey on the wing.

Their nymphs spend between one and five years in the water before climbing a plant stem into the air, splitting their nymph skins, and flying away; you may find empty nymph skins attached to plants at the water's edge. They are voracious carnivores, which lie in wait and dart out to catch anything from water fleas to tadpoles and small fish.

A damselfly nymph has three "tails", which are flattened leaf-like gills. Mayfly larvae also have three tails, but may be distinguished readily by the fringes of gills along the sides of their bodies.

Dragonflies can be sorted into two types according to their shapes and habits. The relatively slimline hawker dragonflies are graceful fliers. The darter dragonflies are broader and more powerful, relying on short bursts of rapid flight, and their nymphs are similarly stocky. Some of the large dragonfly nymphs have internal gills which take oxygen from water pumped in and out of their bodies.

Damselfly nymph