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                                                                 Dragonflies

        What is a dragonfly?

       Have you ever seen those small bugs that hover over you? Well that was a dragonfly. A dragonfly is a flying inscect that hovers in mid-air. A dragonfly eats other insects catching them while they fly in the air. Most dragonflies are found near water. The earliest form of dragonflies appeared about 30 million years ago. Dragonflies

      Anatomy of the Dragonfly 

        Dragonflies have a three part body. The dragonfly has a head, a thorax, and a long thin abdomen. It also has two compound eyes that takes up most of the dragonflies head. The dragonfly has a short thorax there are three pairs of jointed legs. It also has two long wings. This bug breathes through spirals, which are tiny holes in the abdomen. The dragonfly has other parts such as the femur. The femur is the first section of the leg. It also has a labium. A labium is like the lower lip of a human being. Dragonflies have a wing sheath. A wing sheath is a protective outer covering for the dragonflies' wings. A drgonfly has a ovipositer. An ovipositer is the egg laying structure located beneath the abdominal. A pronotum is a shield-like plate covering and protecting the thorax of the dragonfly. A wing node is a notch halfway along the leading edge of the wing. The dragonflies body is very complexed and organized.

Characteristics of the dragonfly

   The dragonfly has a stout body and is brightly colored. The dragonfly has compound eyes. These compound eyes have ten to thirty thousand little lenses. These two compound eyes almost meet at the top of their heads. It also has chewing mouth parts. The dragonfly has two pairs of elongate, membranous, and wings with many veins that always remained stretched out.  The dragonfly also has patterns on its wings. This pattern on their wings help to distinguish the dragonflies and their families. The adult dragonflies have four wings. Dragonfly wings are very strong and support the dragonfly and help it to maneuver. The dragonfly have spiny legs. These legs help them to seizing their prey. These legs have their own abilities but they have little if no use for walking. Instead on relying on their legs for getting around they rely on their strong, powerful wings. Their wings are also transparent but have a unique and colorful pattern.

                       Life Cycle

      The dragonfly undergoes a full metamorphosis. The larva hatches from an egg. This is laid in water. As this aquatic larva molts many times when it is under the water. When it is fully grown then it rises from the water using the claws on it's feet to crawl onto a plant. After the dragonfly is completely grown and ready, it flies away over the land and it doesn't return to the water until it is ready to reproduce and start the cycle all over again. The life span of a dragonfly is about to 6 to 7 months. But most of the dragonfly's life is spent in the nymph stage. So because of the nymph stage the dragonfly only lives for about  few weeks.

Classification

   Dragonflies fit into many classes. They are in the Kingdom animelia. They are also Pylum Arthopoda, Class Insecta, Order Odonata, Suborder Anisoptara. The dragonfly is also is a part for many families, including the Family Libellulidae.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1c8K0Gb68Q&feature=player_embedded  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezq_JWd1Sd8

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/willow/dragonfly-info0.gif 

                                                                                                                         http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04_05/003dragonflyDM_468x304.jpg 

 http://www.biology-blog.com/images/blogs/11-2006/dragonfly-4311.jpg                     http://wordsprout.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/8_dragonfly_summer.jpg

                             I got this information from:http://www.wellesley.edu/Biology/Web/Species/adragonflies.html

                            http://www.habitas.org.uk/dragonflyireland/anatomy.htm 

                http://animals.jrank.org/pages/2311/Dragonflies-Damselflies-Odonata-PHYSICAL-CHARACTERISTICS.html

 http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=0h&oq=enchan&ie=UTF-      8&rlz=1T4RNWI_enUS286US294&q=enchanted+learning+dragonfly