Common Name:  Gray Petaltail
Scientific Name:  Tachopteryx thoreyi

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonta
Family: Petaluride
Genus: Tachopteryx
Species: T. thoreyi

 

The animal I chose is the Gray Petaltail dragonfly. The dragonfly lives in the Eastern United States. It eats other flying insects, even the ones on the water. The dragonfly eats other dragonflies smaller than it. When the dragonfly is born it is called larvae. The larva stays under water for 2 weeks. Then after the 2 weeks, the dragonfly becomes an adult. When the dragonfly wants to fly away it gets in a swarm to be safer from the predators.

 

The size of the dragonfly is 1 to 4 inches long. It has a color of black and yellow with some red so it is camouflaged from predators. The adaptation of the dragonfly is the color of it.  The dragonflies identifying characteristics are the wings.  They have very big wings that are thin so it flies better and faster. These dragonflies are very unique animals.

The dragonfly is found in forests, New York to Florida and all the way to Texas.  There are about 2.2 million dragonflies in the world. The conservation of the dragonfly is its habitat where it is found in the world. The dragonfly’s population is very big.

What the dragonfly eats is other dragonflies smaller than it. The dragonfly also eats small fish. Their feeding habits are the larvae in the water. The predators of the dragonfly are the bigger dragonflies, spiders, frogs, toads, and fish. There are a lot of predators the dragonfly has.  Its camouflage helps keep it from being eaten.

The importance of the dragonfly is its feeding. If the dragonfly does not have enough food it could die out. The thing that stood out was how the dragonfly protects itself from the predators and how it moves in a group to move from one place to another like birds. The Gray Petaltail dragonfly is a very interesting animal.

Author:  Brady G.
Date Published:  February 17, 2012

Sources: 
Laurence Mound. Insect. London: DK Publishing, Inc. 2007
http://www.eduwebs.org/bugs/dragonfly.htm
http://bugguide.net/node/view/4019