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The Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of
List of Anisoptera of the World
{{Taxonbar, from=Q516862H Aeshnoidea Odonata of Asia Odonata of Africa Odonata of Australia Odonata of Europe Odonata of Oceania Odonata of North America Odonata of South America Taxa named by Jules Pierre Rambur Odonata families
The Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...
. The family includes the largest dragonflies found in North America and Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and among the largest dragonflies on the planet.
Description
Common worldwide or nearly worldwide genera are '' Aeshna'' and '' Anax''. The African '' Anax tristis'' has a wingspan over 125 mm, making it one of the world's largest known dragonflies. There are 41 North American species in 11 genera in this family. Most European species belong to ''Aeshna''. Their American name "darner" stems from the female abdomens looking like a sewing needle, as they cut into plant stem when they lay their eggs through the ovipositor. The dragonflies mate in flight. The eggs are deposited in water or close by. Thelarva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
e (nymphs
A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...
or naiads) are generally slender compared to those of other families, with a long and flat extensible lower lip (labium). The larvae are aquatic predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
s, feeding on other insects and even small fish.
The adults spend large amounts of time in the air and seem to fly tirelessly with their four large and powerful wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...
. They can fly forwards or backwards or hover like a helicopter. The wings are always extended horizontally.
Their abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the to ...
s are long and thin. Most are colored blue and or green, with black and occasionally yellow. Their large, hemispherical, compound eye
A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which disti ...
s touch in the midline and nearly cover their heads. They have an extremely good sight, and are voracious insect predators, using their sharp, biting mouthparts. They are, therefore, very beneficial.
All are extremely hard to catch because of their flying abilities and keen sight.
A proposal has been made to split this family into Aeshnidae and Telephlebiidae.
The name may have resulted from a printer's error in spelling the Greek ''Aechma'', "a spear". The spelling Aeschnidae has been intermittently used over a period of time, but is now abandoned for the original name Aeshnidae. However, derived genus names (such as '' Rhionaeschna'') retain the 'sch' spelling, as this is how they were first cited.
Genera
See also
* List of dragonflies (Aeshnidae)References
*Silsby, Jill (2001). ''Dragonflies of the World''. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.External links
List of Anisoptera of the World
{{Taxonbar, from=Q516862H Aeshnoidea Odonata of Asia Odonata of Africa Odonata of Australia Odonata of Europe Odonata of Oceania Odonata of North America Odonata of South America Taxa named by Jules Pierre Rambur Odonata families