Dragonfly-+Haydon

Emperor Dragonfly

The emperor dragonfly is a very unique animal in many ways.

Movement: The emperor dragonfly is barley still. They are almost always moving because of survival. The move differently than most flying animals because they can move in all directons and can also hover. Their wings don't need to be in sync, the front pair could be moving up while the other ones move down.

Eating: Emperor dragonflies spend most of their lives as larva. But when they're adults, they form a "basket" with their legs and traps insects inside them. It then transfers food to its mouth. When dragonflies are larva, they propell themselves through the water and catch prey by the hooks inside their mouths. Adults eat mosquitoes, gnats, ants, termites, even spiders, butterflies, and other dragonflies!

Growth: Most of the dragonfly's lifespan is spent underwater as a nymph. The eggs develope for three weeks and it takes 2 years to fully develop. The average Emperor dragonfly is about 78 mm.

Adaptations: The dragonfly is a very intelligent animal. So it responds to different enviroment adaptions. One is that the larvae have a spear on its head for protection and hunting prey! Another adaptation is that the dragonfly can fly in any direction and is a very fast flyer. The last adaptation is that the Emperor dragonfly's eye has 30,000 individual lenses used for catching prey as well. Reproduction: The dragonfly eg will take about 2 -5 weeks to gestate for. An intresting fact is that a dragonfly can lay over 1,000 eggs at one time!

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropod Class: Insecta Order: Odonata Family: Aeshnidae Genus: Anax Species: A. Imperator

Differences: The only main difference, besides reproduction organs, between a male and female are the physical features. Males usually have a blue abdomen, with a black stripe, and a green thorax. Females have a green abdomen and thorax.

Family: Only one animal is from the same family and that is the damselfly. some General Characteristics:
 * large eyes with 30,000 individual lenses
 * 2 pairs of transparent wings
 * (damselflies) bodies are long and slender
 * spiny legs

Sources: bugguide.net, animals.jrank.org, ladywildlife.com, greennature.com, en.wikipedia.org, focusingonwildlife.com, chevroncars.com. 21facts.com,