The Emperor Dragonfly

The Emporer Dragonfly or Anax Imperator in Fuerteventura

An Article by DaveG with The Voice Fuerteventura

The bright blue male emperor dragonfly has remained unchanged for 230 million years and is extremely sharp sighted. It is also one of the fastest flying of all insects. 

FOOD AND FEEDING 

The adult is able to catch most of its prey while flying, despite only being able to beat its wings 30 times per second (ten times slower than a bee.) It has no difficulty hunting down more evolved insects and plucks them out of the air with its legs, which form a basket and transfer the prey to the jaws to be ingested. The dragonfly is rarely still, and its huge, multifaceted eyes enable it to detect prey up to 40ft away. It eats small insects while flying but takes larger prey to a resting perch. The emperor’s larvae also hunt. They propel themselves rapidly through their underwater habitat by expelling water from their intestines. Their shovel-like extendable jaws, armed with deadly hooks, enable them to catch a freshwater animals like water lice and nymphs. 

HABITATS AND HABITS 

The male emperor dragonfly is almost continuously airborne, in search of a mate or prey that may stray into its territory. Its territory is always over a freshwater pond or lake. The defending dragonfly will attack the trespasser immediately by flying under him to force him up and away from the water. The green and brown female stays away from the water until she is ready to breed, so she is sighted less frequently.

LIFECYCLE & LARVAE 

Most of the dragonfly’s life is spent underwater as larva. It emerges as a winged adult for a few weeks a year to mate and lay eggs. Usually mating takes place in the high branches of a tree, but sometimes it will occur in the air. The male pursues the female until he is able to settle on her back. The female fertilizes the eggs, then uses her ovipostor (a special egg laying organ) to lay them. To protect her eggs from being eaten by fish, she places them into slits that she has cut into stems of pondweed. The eggs develop in about 3 weeks