Naturally West: Dragonflies and damselflies

Dragonflies and damselflies are sunlovers too

Dragonflies and damselflies love The blue damselfly or Kēkēwai being near water and embrace is half the size of the bush giants ponds (and swimming pools) as at up to 45mm in length but is in acceptable browsing habitats. fact our largest native damselfly.

One we often see is the Bush The male is easily distinguishable Giant Dragonfly. They can be as being our only blue odonate, long as 130mm, with the females however the female of the species slightly larger than the males. While is more green than blue. Unlike a large insect by our standards, dragonflies they hold their wings fossil dragonflies have been found folded up, rather than open, when with a wingspan of 60cm. Imagine stationary. what they devoured! Damselflies can change the

Due to their size, giants can be colour of their body to help in a bit intimidating if they decide to thermoregulation, going darker hover your way, particularly if you to receive more warmth. It is are in sunbathing mode. reported that most of their brain

To breed, a female chooses a power is devoted to processing damp gully where she lays her images through their large eyes. eggs in the soil. As the larvae grow There are in fact eight species and develop they enlarge their of commonly observed dragonflies burrow to a diameter of about and six damselflies in New Zealand. three centimetres, often building Dragonflies are ancient, dating a raised wall around the lip. back 320 million years. About 270

The Māori name for the giant million years ago, the group split is Kapokapowai which means into the true dragonflies and the “water snatcher”, referring to damselflies. the way in which the dragonfly The edges of wetlands are good larvae feeds. The larvae can live places to see these insects as they for up to five years in the banks of like shallow water, with a rich mix rivers and streams and have long Kēkēwai, a male blue damselfly (top) and Kapokapowai, the giant bush of vegetation, including rushes extendable jaws which they shoot dragonfly. Photo credit: Department of Conservation. and aquatic weeds. out to capture prey. The warm months of summer to mid-autumn are peak times for

Adult dragonflies, which often have quite short lifespans, use their seeing them in flight. They have the unique ability to fly up and down, exceptional flying skills to feed on flying insects. Their large eyes take backwards and forwards, side to side and hover in mid air. They are also up most of their head and give them the ability to see in every direction fast fliers with exceptional acceleration: covering 15 metres in less than except directly backwards. a second from a standing start.

They catch their prey by grabbing it with their feet and devour it with The trick to spotting dragonflies is patience. Choose a likely location powerful jaws. They can capture hundreds of mosquitoes in a single by a wetland, river or pond, then watch and wait. Or you could attract day making them a useful insect to have around. them to your garden by creating a pond. Make sure there is plenty

Unlike the giants, the lifecycle of damselflies (and some other of sunshine on the pond, and shelter from the prevailing winds. The dragonflies) starts in the water, firstly as an egg and then, while still pond should be shallow at one end and a depth of a metre is plenty. waterborne at naiad stage, they shed a series of exoskeletons until they Rainwater or stream water is best. reach maturity and shed for the last time, beginning life as a terrestrial The right planting is also important. Ideal plants include tall-stemmed odonate. Odonata (the common name for this insect group) means plants such as rushes, sedges and small shrubs such as twigged tree ‘toothed ones’ in Greek. Although they don’t actually have teeth, they daisy and salt marsh ribbonwood; floating plants like red pondweed do have amazing gnashers for consuming their food and can give your and swamp buttercup; and oxygenating plants like water milfoils and toe a good nip in its naiad stage. the submerged charophyte species (stonewort).

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