What are dragonflies?
Dragonflies are amongst the largest and most spectacular insects. They are day-flying, easy to observe and are good indicators of unpolluted water. Dragonflies are placed in the order Odonata which means tooth jaws. The adults have the largest eyes of any insect and two pairs of large wings. There are over 5,300 species in the world. The Life History of a dragonfly has four distinct stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Eggs are laid directly into the water or into plant tissue to protect them. The larvae hatch after 2-5 weeks, depending on temperature. The larva is an ‘eating machine’ which grows through a number of stages (instars) at the end of which it splits its skin to grow into the next instar. Dragonflies can remain in the larval form for one or two years, but the length of time for those species occurring on Socotra has not been studied. The larva develops onto a pupa which changes from gill-breathing to air-breathing and emerges on the stem of vegetation. It is from this last s
