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Dragonflies or Devil's Horses?

One of the largest flying insects in the world is a well known inhabitant of our region and, that along with cockroaches, is one of the most ancient and surprising insects in the animal world.

Living Fossils of Evolutionary Flight

It's hard to imagine that, during the Carboniferous Period (over 300 million years ago); dragonflies were the size of a seagull but with a structure almost identical to that of today, with a wingspan that reached 70 centimeters.

They possess the most complex flight characteristics of any insect, evolving to be able to reach speeds of up to 98 kilometers per hour! They have two pairs of wings, which they are unable to fold like other insects, and use them in alternation, one of the pairs moving slower than the other. This allows them to make sudden movements and astonishing aerial acrobatics any pilot would be proud of.

A Killer Bug

Their agility in flight has evolved because of their need to hunt other insects (mainly mosquitoes), which they can catch in mid-flight, their basket-like feet having evolved in such a way that they can't walk and must lie down to rest.

An Eagle Eye or a "Dragonfly Eye"

"Eagle eye" is often used to describe someone with well-developed eyesight, but there are few living beings that posses a 360-degree field of vision.

Thanks to their 30,000 eyes, they are capable of focusing on their prey from 12 meters away, making them very capable hunters.

A Phantom Life

What little we know about them includes the fact that these astonishing organisms can live up to seven years, spending only the last four months of their lives in adult form, when they reproduce then perish.

They spend most of their life as adolescents, in the form of an aquatic insect hunter capable of capturing small fish, frogs and other invertebrates, with a respiratory system like that of fish. They shed their skin periodically until they mature and convert into an adult dragonfly. They then leave the water and enter into a metamorphosis comparable to that of butterflies.

The "Devil's" Little Horse

We often confuse dragonflies with "caballitos del diablo," which have a similar form but different wings, which they are able to fold over their bodies, the same as all other insects. They also are much smaller and harder to see.

"Pest Controllers"

Because of their fierce appetite, dragonflies are an excellent natural pest control for mosquitoes. And they are some of the insects most affected by the constant fumigations performed by the health department to control dengue, using toxic substances that are extremely hazardous to the environment. It is dangerous for us, as well, because we have to inhale it, thus fumigating ourselves and risking consequences unknown at this time.

It is surprising that the important ecological role these big-eyed insects have is so little valued by humans, a valuable lesson about nature and the value of what surrounds us.