Dragonfly

Group:

Animal, Invertebrate (minibeast)

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Food chain :

Carnivore

What it eats :

Adults eat flying insects, mainly midges and mosquitoes. The larvae, which live under water, eat almost any creature that is smaller than themselves, including other insect larvae and tadpoles.

Eaten by:

Adults are eaten by spiders, frogs, and predatory birds. Larvae are eaten by fish, frogs, toads and newts, and other water invertebrates.

Habitat:

Pond; Wildflower grasslandPond; Wildflower grassland

Description:

Dragonflies are larger than damselflies. Dragonflies rest with their wings held out from the body, often at right angles to it. They often hunt well away from water. Dragonflies start life underwater as larvae (also called nymphs) that are voracious predators. They can spend anything from 6 months to 6 or 7 years underwater. When they are large enough, they crawl up the stem of a water plant, shed their skin for the last time and emerge with wings as an adult dragonfly.