Page 34 - 2020 May/June Outdoor Oklahoma

Odes belong to the order Odonata, derived from

the Greek word odonto, meaning tooth. The largest
species in Oklahoma, with a wingspan of 4 inches, is
the dragonhunter, Hagenius brevistylus, whereas the
smallest damselflies are less than an inch across.
Like all insects, odes have three body segments:
a head, thorax, and abdomen. Attached to the tho-
rax are three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings.
The wings are net-veined and translucent, some-
times with colored patches. Each wing acts inde-

pendently, making them very nimble in flight.
They have compound eyes with up to 30,000 fac-
ets, called ommatidia, allowing them to see near-
ly 360 degrees. With this excellent eyesight, they
hunt flying insects such as mosquitoes, and a sin-
gle dragonfly can eat hundreds per day.
Males spend a lot of time looking for females.

Once spotted, the male approaches and, with spe-
cial claspers on the tip of his abdomen, grasps the
female on the back of the neck. The male straight-
ens out its body and the pair flies around in this
position known as tandem linkage. Then, the female
curls her abdomen forward to connect with the
male (the mating wheel). After mating, the female is

32 OUTDOOR OKLAHOMA