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The Dragonfly - one awesome Insect
The Dragonfly is a predatory, four-winged insect that flies
and can hover in one place. They eat a diet of other smaller
insects and catch them while in flight. There are many
different species of dragonfly. It is suspected that
dragonflies have been around in nearly the same form for
three hundred million years.
Like every insect, the dragonfly has three parts to its
body. It has a head, a thorax and abdomen. The abdomen is
long, thin and segmented and very flexible.
The dragonfly has two large compound eyes that take up most
of the room on its head. On the thorax it has three pairs of
jointed legs and two pairs of long, delicate membranous and
transparent or iridescent wings.
The dragonfly breathes through spiracles that are tiny holes
in its abdomen.
Most dragonflies are found near water. That is because their
mating and hunting are usually done over water and part of
their lifecycle takes place in the water.
The dragonfly goes through a partial metamorphosis. An egg
is laid in water, underwater or in plants near water. A
larva hatches from the egg and lives in the water and grows.
The larva is also known as a nymph and this part of the life
cycle is called a nymph stage.
The larva will grow and molt old skin many times. When the
larva reaches its full growth it emerges from the water and
crawls using the claws on its feet onto a plant. Once it is
dry it can fly over land but it frequently returns to a
water source to hunt and reproduce.
A dragonfly can live from six months to seven years,
depending on the species, with most of its life spent in
larval form. The adult dragonfly only lives for a few weeks,
but they are quite a sight to see as they flit and hover
over the water, with their huge, iridescent eyes continually
looking for prey.
You'll be pleased as punch with this awesome
plush stuffed Dragonfly
complete with it's own wings
Just a remarkably splendid plush stuffed Dragonfly
which is a whole lot of fun to have!
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