DAMSELFLY IN DISTRESS

In a rare sighting, I asked my brother, "Is that a damselfly?"  I had always thought that the damselfly was a FEMALE dragonfly but in checking online, I learned that although both dragonflies and damselflies are from the same order, they are different.

It is easy to mistake a dragonfly for a damselfly, because they do look alike, but adult damselflies have thinner, more delicate bodies.  After careful consideration and quick online checking, we determined that the insect we saw was indeed a DAMSELFLY.

                              DAMSELFLY














                            DRAGONFLY

This article is from The Wise Geek:

The distinctive looking dragonfly, with its eerie eyes and four paper-thin wings, is usually found around lakes, ponds, and other wetlands, feeding on bothersome insects such as mosquitoes and flies.  Dragonflies have six legs but they cannot walk;  instead the appendages are used for catching and holding prey, or for perching on plants.  The legs of the larvae, however, are used for ambulation.  When a dragonfly larva, known as a nymph, is ready to metamorphose into an adult, it climbs up a reed or other aquatic plant, and finds a place to emerge.  There are more than 5,300 species of dragonflies and the species has been around for more than 300 million years.  The larval stage of some dragonflies, spent under water, can last as long as five years.

An interesting sideline of writing a BLOG is meeting--via the internet--other BLOGGERS.  There is, no doubt, a blogger for every possible interest.  To learn more about dragonflies and damselflies, click on DragonflyWoman@wordpress.com who bills herself as "AQUATIC ENTOMOLOGIST WITH A BLOGGING HABIT" and you will learn more than you ever wanted to know!