Dragonfly Gains In Status

You’ve seen thousands of them darting around vegetation, pausing frequently, landing momentarily on tule stems or other aquatic weeds.

They vaguely resemble Boeing’s huge humpbacked passenger plane.

They’re dragonflies, now Washington state’s official insect. Fly fishers probably know them best, but even they know more about dragonfly nymphs than the colorful adults. They’ve devised scores of patterns to suggest the voracious nymphs, the tigers of their lake water world.

To people who fish, water ski and cruise around lakes, dragonflies are the most visual of all the flying insects. They’re big, often having wingspans of more than 3 inches. A few species have wing spans of 5 inches.

Their cousins, damselflies, are smaller and keep their slender wings folded back over their bodies when at rest. Dragonflies never fold their wings.

The legislature early this year passed a bill designating the dragonfly as the state insect and the governor signed it. Then everybody, it seems, forgot about the action. That is, except for a few persons, including entomologists, fisheries biologists and teachers. Some people have ridiculed the naming of the dragonfly as the state insect. The Inland Northwest Wildlife Council in its newsletter had this laconic comment: “Did you know we now have a state insect? Yep. Gov. Locke recently signed the papers, so ‘tis true. What is that you say? The Dragon Fly. Why? Who knows. It beat out the ladybug. Nothing in politics surprises us any more.”

Dragonflies are one of the most prominent aquatic insects in North America. Washington probably has fewer species than most states.

Few lake visitors pay attention to small aquatic insects, such as mayflies and midges. Many never are aware of massive hatches of callibaetis mayflies and the emergence and mating flights of midges. Once in a while someone becomes irritated when midges, which don’t bite, get into their mouths and ear canals, or when midges plaster the glass windshield.

But nearly everyone who spends time at a lake sees dragonflies and damselflies, mainly because they’re big and colorful.

Dragonflies start life as nymphs. Some species mature in a year, others as many as four years. The nymphs are voracious carnivores, feeding on other insects and, when they’re fully grown, even on tadpoles and small fish. They lurk among aquatic vegetation and ambush their prey.

They catch their prey by shooting out a double-hinged lower lip, which, in repose, is folded back against the ventral side of the head and thorax. Depending on the species, the lip is armed with sharp tooth-like incisors, sharp bristles or movable hook-like teeth.

When they can get dragonfly nymphs, fishermen use them for bait. For many years, sporting goods shops in the area stocked good supplies of the nymphs. Some entrepreneurs even made up to $50 a week trapping the nymphs and selling them to stores that sell fishing tackle.

The nymphs are ideal bait, sometimes more effective than worms.

Fly fishers tie numerous different patterns to simulate the nymphs, including the Carey Special and the Beaverpelt. Some tiers have created patterns that are almost exact imitations of the live nymph, but the patterns that only suggest the nymph usually are just as effective as the real nymph.

Despite their fearsome appearance, adult dragonflies don’t sting people. Their mouth parts are powerful but not enough to nip a person.

The adults are highly beneficial insects. They’re exceptionally fast fliers and gorge themselves on small insects that they catch on the wing. Although some large species catch butterflies and moths, most eat small insects such as mosquitoes and midges.

Dragonflies have enormous, bulging compound eyes, each of which contains 10,000 to 20,000 facets. Their loosely jointed heat rotates freely, giving them a broad field of vision.

Dragonflies rarely stay in one spot more than a few seconds. They’re restless insects, always seeming to fly from place to place. They even have certain routes of flight, returning to the same spots again and again.

They’re colorful insects, many with unusual markings. They live on and around lakes and ponds from March until snow flies in the late fall.

Because they’re such fast fliers, dragonflies rarely are caught by fish. On the other hand, damselflies, which are slow and sometimes bumbling fliers, are targeted by fish. Consequently, nearly all the patterns created by fly fishers and tiers represent damselflies.

Dragonflies and damselflies are as much a part of a lake’s wildlife as are the mallards, coots and red-winged blackbirds that are so highly visible and vocal.