The dragonfly, a large airplane-shaped insect that skims across the surface of lakes, ponds, and rivers surely looks dangerous, with a long, thin “stinger” in the back of its body.
But the dragonfly cannot sting. The “stinger” is actually the slender rear part of its body. The only creatures that have to worry about the dragonfly are the mosquitoes and gnats that form its diet.
The dragonfly is among the best flyers on earth. Some kinds remain in the air almost all day long without landing on anything, and can also remain in one spot, or hover, which few other insects can.
Today, the largest dragonflies in America are eight inches long, with a wingspan of seven inches. But in prehistoric times, some dragonflies were two feet across with their wings extended!
2 Comments
Wether it be a sting or a bite I had a massive allergic reation to a dragon fly so I really dont belive they are harmless as all I was doing was stood as a young child in a que for face paiting!!!!
Why is everyone saying they are harmless when quite clearly they are not.
Why is everyone saying they are harmless? Just one possible explanation is that it wasn’t a dragonfly that you had a reaction to. It would be easy to mistake a wasp for one. Anyhow, with the way human perception works it’s too late to know – once it was decided it was a dragon fly, it becomes fact.