Just a quick note to let you all know that I’m ramping up the social networking for my blogs just a bit, and now there are two new ways to follow Growing With Science.
First, there’s a new Facebook page called Growing With Science. You can access it through the link in the sidebar to the right, or you can simply type “Growing with Science” into you search bar when you are in Facebook. The idea is that I will share quick links to science-related items that may not merit a post and keep you up to date with items I have posted about in the past. Hopefully we can develop a fun community.
After some consideration, I have also decided to create a new Twitter profile @ScienceAntics for my two science-related blogs, to separate it from my @RobertaGibson, which will now be chiefly for posts about children’s books/literacy.
I would love to hear your feedback about these changes.
This week we have a few wonderful resources for learning more about dragonflies and damselflies.
Introduction to Dragonflies and Damselflies
What is a dragonfly and what is a damselfly?
Dragonflies are the large, showy insects that you see around ponds and other bodies of water. When they land on a plant or other object, they hold their wings straight out.
Damselflies, on the other hand, are usually a bit finer, more delicate looking. They rest with their wings folded behind their backs.
Look closely and you will see they often sport bright colors, such as red, green and bright blue. They can be just as colorful and fun to watch as birds or butterflies.
Dragonfly and Damselfly Life Cycles
The adult female dragonflies and damselflies lay their eggs in the water, or on plants or debris in or near the water. The eggs hatch into nymphs (sometimes also called naiads) that feed on other organisms in the water. After a year or two, they crawl to the surface and the adult emerges. There is no transitional or pupal stage.
1. Dragonfly watching
Nothing beats strolling out to a pond, stream or lake and simply watching dragonflies and damselflies in action.
One of the first things you notice when you see dragonflies or damselflies is their strong ability to fly. They have four wings, and can move the fore and hind wings independently. Their wing movement may not be easy to see until you capture them on film.
In this video clip, you can see a dragonfly’s amazing flight slowed down.
Often dragonflies are searching for food when they are flying. They catch other flying insects, such as mosquitoes, while on the wing. In this video you can see dragonflies catching flying termites (although the video title identifies the prey as ants).
According to a recent newspaper article, Arizona dragonfly watching a growing hobby at the Arizona Republic, dragonfly watching is increasing in popularity. Several of our local nature areas are now offering dragonfly walks lead by experts. Check in your area for local events related to dragonflies, especially in the summer.
2. Dragonfly Swarms
I recently found a wonderful blog called The Dragonfly Woman. University of Arizona Entomology Ph.D. student Christine Goforth has started a citizen science project about dragonfly swarming (more about that in a minute), plus has loads of cool information about dragonflies and insects in general.
What is a dragonfly swarm? When a group of insects gather together in a large group, for whatever purpose, it is often called a swarm. In the case of dragonflies, the swarm may be a bunch of dragonflies feeding together at one location. This is called a static swarm. Dragonflies can also form large groups and move from place to place. This is called a migratory swarm.
You might like to see Dragonfly Woman’s posts about making a dragonfly collection using a scanner as well. I love the idea of being able to preserve the insect’s image and let the dragonfly go again.
While we were in Colorado, we saw these cool metallic-blue larvae.
You might think they are caterpillars, but they are not.
These are the larvae of a leaf beetle.
Sometimes it is easy to forget that beetles have a larval stage like the other insects with complete metamorphosis, because you don’t see beetle larvae or pupae as often as you might see caterpillars.
The larvae are probably from beetles in the genus Trirhabda. You can see photographs of the adults at BugGuide.
