Odonata: Dragonflies and Damselflies - Order Spotlight

[@onepercentjuice]

this is so cool thank you algorithm, subbed

[@insectspotlightproject]

Thank you dude!! I'll make sure to keep up with em!

[@rabbithohl2162]

I had no idea that dragonflies had the highest hunting success rate. Learn something every day! Side note… I am getting a dragonfly tattoo in memory of my grandma next week. Was her favorite animal. Wonder if she knew they were hyper successful savages 🤣

[@insectspotlightproject]

Love dragonflies - your grandma had great taste. The perfect blend of elegance and lethality 🙌

[@lsdustyrhodes]

Although dragonflies don't sting or bite, they will sew your lips together if you swear. Okay, I'm not sure if that's true, but that's what I heard.

[@insectspotlightproject]

Haha such a weird folktale, I gotta look more into how it came about. I have heard them called "Devil's Darning Needles" for this reason

[@betweenhtllc]

Peace. Love it! We all need to understand and respect all of the creators creations. Stay prayed up to the Most High, GOD the omnipotent

[@angelicaporro4060]

It might be nice where you do a video (or videos) focusing on how to make one's yard friendly to various insects. But granted, that might be more aimed at gardeners who might not want as much detail about the insects themselves so much as what they have to do to attract beneficial insects and control ones they don't want. But that of course depends on what ideally your demographic is and what kind of content you'd like to make :)

[@insectspotlightproject]

For sure would love to do this - though most of my content right now is videos focused on different taxonomic groups, I plan on doing some more "topic spotlights" to focus in on some specific aspects of entomology - including native gardening and ecology 🙌

[@angelicaporro4060]

@@insectspotlightproject Sounds cool, looking forward to it :)

[@natalieeuley1734]

More fun facts: -They often form a heart shape when mating -Each of their wings moves entirely independently with complete muscle control of each one, and they are the only insects with this characteristic (I think) -Females can only lay their eggs on water plants, so if you have a source of water without plants in it, there will be no dragonflies or damselflies

[@insectspotlightproject]

These are great!

[@ThatFreeWilliam]

Out of curiosity, what's the hunting success rate of the robber flies? Are we sure they're not in the same league success-rate wise but just less studied? I feel like those poor little monsters get left out of those convos.

[@insectspotlightproject]

I havent been able to find primary literature giving a specific success rate - strategy is similar (snatching prey in midair, pretty generalist, etc). Would love to see a comparison of the two to see if robber flies reach those same numbers. They definitely deserve some more love!

[@DJLucas-xv7oe]

Dragonflies aren't dragons. And it's only a fly if all winged insects are flies. Especially because of the fact that they are the hagfish of winged insects; the pterygota.

[@HalfwayConscious]

Hm