All right.
Hello and welcome to Invertedcast.
I am Lea from Tarantula and obviously here at Invertedcast.
And today Simon is actually at the Great Ant Expedition.
So they're in the UK.
I am not there, unfortunately.
But that's why he's not here.
So I'm going to be doing this all by myself.
Clearly.
So, but as I said before, all good.
Like we got this.
So today I will be discussing dragonflies and it's a really cool topic because I found
so much folklore about dragonflies, which is really, really fantastic.
So lots of cool old like mythologies and legends that surround this incredible insect.
But I also found all kinds of just fantastic scientific information.
And I'm here to bring it to you guys so you don't have to do all the dirty work, right?
So I did all the research so that you guys don't have to.
So dragonflies are classified as Anasoptera and they are, there are about roughly about
3000 species of these aerial predatory insects.
They're found next to freshwater habitats throughout most of the world.
So you can pretty much find them everywhere, which is pretty fantastic, I think.
They are also, they're classified as Anasoptera, but their genera, what's the, their genera
or their order is Oronata.
So they are characterized, so if you've ever seen a dragonfly, you know that they look
like these long bodies with probably about four wings, right?
And you would be absolutely precisely correct on that.
So they are, they do have long bodies with two narrow pairs of intricately veined, membranous
wings.
Their wings are mostly transparent, but many of them can be colored and have like markings
and all that cool stuff.
But one difference about their wings that when the dragonfly is at rest, their wings
will spread horizontally rather than coming together vertically like other flying insects.
So that's another unique thing about dragonflies.
Because there is a species of dragonfly that is migratory, which means that this dragonfly
will basically travel from one place to another in a migration pattern that they always do
like annually.
So the migratory dragonfly makes an annual multi-generational journey of about 18,000
kilometers, which comes out to be about 11,200 miles.
So a long way to go.
That's like at least, dude, that's halfway around the world, honestly.
Also dragonflies, you can tell that you're looking at a dragonfly because they have these
huge bulging eyes that occupy most of their head.
They give them, these eyes give them about approximately a 360 degree view of the world,
obviously.
So they have a 360 degree view, field of vision.
They are large and colorful insects, obviously, with a wingspan that can be up to six inches.
And the smallest dragonfly has been close to an inch, so about 0.8 inch, which, you
know, eight tenths of an inch essentially.
They are agile flyers and among the fastest insects in the world, they have been clocked
at about at the fastest at 18 miles per hour, which I don't know what the kilometers per
hour is on that.
Sorry, guys.
I'll have to convert it sometime.
But anyhow, they are the fastest, some of the fastest flyers in the world.
And their wing muscles have to be warm in order for them to function at optimal levels.
They eat other small flying insects and some regularly consume prey that is 60 percent
their own body weight, which again is just incredible.
And not only not only do they consume prey that is 60 percent their own body weight,
but they also capture that prey in midair.
Like as they're flying, they just snatch it out of the air.
So we're going to talk about their flight patterns and kind of how they are able to
fly the way that they do here in a moment.
But first, let's talk about when they are young and their larval stage.
So usually they you can call them larvae or nymphs.
That is pretty much the same thing.
But essentially, when they are in their larval stage, they they are aquatic, almost like
completely aquatic.
And they also are predatory, even in their larval stage.
So they possess an anatomical structure that adults don't possess while they are in their
nipple stage.
And it's called a mask.
But essentially what it is, it's a fusion of the third pair of mouth parts that include
thing like pinchers.
That are used to seize prey like worms, crustaceans, tadpoles and small fish.
And then basically it's a set of pinchers that they will use to to grab, you know, small
prey items in the water.
And then they eat them up, essentially.
So and also they in their nipple stage, they actually will ingest water and then propel
it or shoot it out of their rectum, essentially.
And that's how they propel themselves along the water while they while they are living
their aquatic lives.
And typically they live most of their lives, uh, aquatically.
So they most of most of a dragonfly's life is actually underwater.
So it's in the water, in the freshwater.
And so when you see them flying around and stuff, you're essentially looking at like,
you know, two to three year old dragonfly.
So that's another interesting aspect of the dragonfly, as we all know.
Alrighty.
Let's see.
Once they are, so they crawl, they essentially crawl from their eggs that are typically laid
in or near water sometimes, or some species of them will lay their eggs in like plant
soft plant tissues.
Others attach eggs to substrates or just above the water surface.
Others will just drop their eggs just right over a body of water as they are flying, which
is pretty pretty fascinating.
About halfway through their larval stage, their wings will become apparent.
So their wings start to emerge.
And of course those wings, um, as that, as that nymph grows and bolts over time, then
those wings are, are going to become more and more apparent and more and more developed,
which is really cool.
And so, yeah.
So the first fossil record of dragonflies was 300 million years ago, which again is
really incredible.
But that's, I mean, that's all the way back to like the Jurassic period.
Um, so they are one of the very first insects to ever inhabit our planet earth.
And they can live up to six and a half years.
And again, as I said, they live mostly as nymphs underwater.
And that's pretty fascinating.
So I also found some really cool facts about dragonflies.
So I'll go through those.
They can intercept prey in midair.
So essentially they don't chase prey.
They snag them from midair with a calculated aerial pursuit or an ambush.
And yeah, like, so they have each, uh, each of their wings has its own set of muscles
that controls that wing.
And so that's again, another one of those really, really cool, fascinating facts about
dragonflies.
Um, they have very sharp mandibles and in, in all actuality, odonata means like directly
translates to toothed ones.
So they catch prey with their feet.
So as they're flying, they'll, they'll see a prey item, like a mosquito or, or something
like that, and they will calculate how fast the mosquito is going and how, you know, what
kind of speed they need to be able to catch that mosquito.
And then they will just catch it, snag it, but they catch it with their feet.
And then they use those mandibles to basically rip off the wings of this other flying insect
and then devour it, uh, live essentially.
So they, they tear off the wings so that that other prey insect can't escape.
They can't get away from the dragonfly, which again is really, really kind of cool, but
also brutal and terrifying.
Um, so many brutal, terrifying things in the, uh, invertebrate world.
Don't you think?
Hmm.
Excuse me a moment.
All right.
So as I said before, they are freaky fliers.
So they have two sets of wings with muscles that basically control each set of wings.
So each, each wing that they have, they have four wings.
So each wing is controlled by its own set of muscles.
Okay.
Which is amazing.
So each wing can, can basically operate independently.
And this also allows them to be incredibly agile.
They can fly forward, backwards, side to side.
They can even hover, um, a lot like a harrier jet, but, uh, I think a better, a better like
comparison as far as flying goes would be a helicopter because those helicopters, they
can, they can fly forward, they can fly backwards, but side to side.
Um, and, and they can also kind of hover, but actually dragonflies can hover a lot better
than a helicopter does.
So that's pretty incredible.
And they also, again, as I said, they can reach that top speed of 18 miles per hour.
So again, another, it just, just amazing fact about dragonflies.
Um, they're just, they're just incredible creatures.
And the fact that they're predatory, I mean, it really makes sense.
They, they're kind of set up in a way that like other flying insects really don't stand
a chance.
So, all right, let's talk about their eyeballs.
So their eyeballs are these huge, enormous, like bulbous deals that pretty much take up
their entire head as we've stated before, but essentially they contain, uh, 30,000 facets
within that one eye.
So what that means is they can see colors and they can see things that we can't, they
have like a 360 degree view of their world, essentially.
So that also means that they can narrow in on, in a swarm of other insects.
So say there's a swarm of like mosquitoes or a swarm of moths and butterflies and stuff.
They can actually narrow down to one, one of those mosquitoes or one of those butterflies
and then calculate how fast they need to get at them and how fast, you know, they can kind
of predict where those other flying insects are going to be going.
Essentially, and then fly at it and pretty much ambush it and take it down in that manner
and use those incredibly agile wings to be able to capture that flying prey.
They spend, again, they spend a lot of time underwater as in their nymphal stage.
So some species actually can spend six years underwater.
And the last like six or so months of their life will be spent flying as a dragonfly.
So when you see a dragonfly flying through the air, you're really looking at something,
an insect that is in its last like six months to a year of its life.
So essentially when it is flying and predating on other flying insects and whatnot, that
its sole purpose is essentially to procreate and then kill insects and die.
Let's see.
Carrie is asking, small Apollo wants to know if their eyesight is very sharp with all that
amazing lens action.
Absolutely.
So their eyesight is incredible.
They can actually see ultraviolet, an ultraviolet spectrum that I don't believe humans can perceive,
if you will.
So they, as I said before, like their eyesight is so good that they can just single out one
mosquito within a horde of them or a swarm of them.
So one mosquito and a swarm of mosquitoes, they can narrow down onto that one mosquito
and basically predict where its trajectory is.
And that's how they end up ambushing that mosquito and taking it down.
It's pretty incredible.
Pretty incredible indeed.
And so when we're looking at them, if you look at the thumbnail picture of the dragonfly
that I used for this episode is actually a picture that I took myself of a little dragonfly
that was in my backyard.
And it was so beautiful.
And I just, I love dragonflies.
I actually really love how their heads are able to move like just almost completely around
like that.
And I also really love their eyes.
Their eyes are fascinating.
So as I'm looking at this dragonfly and I might look away and maybe the dragonfly looks
away but that dragonfly can still see me, whereas I can't.
Let's see.
Oh yes.
So Eden Inverts says that dragonflies are living helicopters with built-in radar systems
and can't see very well.
We have tons of them around the lakes here.
Oh yeah.
I mean, dragonflies are pretty incredible.
I thought that they have pretty good vision and their vision is definitely better than
ours.
So Carrie says, wow, so they really use their site for hunting and defense.
It's why they are so hard to catch.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, they are really, really hard to catch even when they are sitting still and whatnot.
Like they are incredibly fast.
So if you try to like, you know, capture that dragonfly, it's going to see you before you
even are there.
You know, it's going to calculate that, oh, the human is probably going to try and reach
at me.
You know, like they can calculate and feel the error changes and whatnot before it even
happens.
So yeah, just an incredible, all around incredible creatures.
Oh, no worries Eden Inverts.
I understand about typing errors.
I make them all the time.
If you guys join in my Discord server, Inverticast does now have a Discord server.
I will of course link that down below at the end of this podcast or at the end of the stream.
That way you guys can join if you'd like and you can talk to me and stuff.
But yes, I do make lots of typos.
Stupid auto correct, right?
So yeah, their eyes are enormous, their compound and they have 30,000 facets, which I believe
means that how we have one retina, they have essentially 30,000 retinas.
So they have 30,000 pupils and retinas that pick up everything.
So amazing.
They are incredibly beneficial to us.
Just overall, like they, normally are they incidental pollinators because they fly around
and stuff and a lot of times they'll land on other plant matter and things like that
to rest.
And through that they will pick up a little bit of pollen and as they fly away they will
probably drop that pollen somewhere and pollinate low flower.
So incidental pollinators, which we need.
But they are also beneficial because they are pest control for like populations of mosquitoes
and biting flies and stuff like that.
That's what they predate on or so that's what they eat.
And that actually means a lot to us because these guys are very prolific when it comes
to being a predator.
So I found that they can eat like one dragonfly in an entire span of a day can eat up to 30
between 30 and 100 and hundreds like hundreds.
So 30 to like 400 mosquitoes in one day.
Which again is just incredible.
So if you see those dragonflies hanging around your house or you're at a park and there's
some dragonflies there, leave those guys alone because they really are helping us out.
Mosquitoes and biting flies are a pretty big threat to human beings because they carry
diseases like malaria and other bloodborne pathogens like the West Nile virus.
I know there's been a lot of noise coming from that whole thing because it's kind of
a newer disease and we don't really know how to handle it.
So there's that.
And that actually is transmitted to mosquitoes.
So if you see those dragonflies flying around, just let them be.
Don't catch them.
Don't do anything with them.
They are helping us to battle those bloodborne pathogens and those diseases that you really
don't want to contract.
Alright, let's get into folklore guys.
Okay.
So generally dragonflies are believed to carry the souls of the deceased into the afterlife.
And so that's kind of a theme throughout a lot of the folklore and like cultures that
I found.
The theme of it's kind of a major facet of those mythologies that they have a pretty
big impact on the afterlife or like carrying those spirits.
So let's get into it.
And Japanese mythology.
So we're heading over to Japan first.
They believe that red dragonflies are believed to be the spirits of the dead visiting their
loved ones.
So they also see dragonflies as a symbol of courage and bravery because of their agile
flight patterns and predatory nature.
They are also seen as a good fortune and they are believed to bring good luck and prosperity
and of course harmony.
Because I mean, they're so pretty.
So of course I feel like there's a very harmonious like air about dragonflies for sure.
They also bring a sense of peace and prosperity often depicted that way in traditional Japanese
art and design.
So you can often see dragonflies just being very kind of harmonious.
Thank you Eden Inverts.
I have heard this about the afterlife as well.
Very interesting.
I agree.
And it's not just one or two cultures.
It really seems to be kind of across the board that dragonflies are seen to carry spirits.
Sometimes they're messengers.
It's really fascinating.
So again, you know, I remember we were talking about cicadas recently and how they are also
seen as something purveying the afterlife.
So like that immortality and whatnot.
So it's really interesting that we see in mythology and folklore that these inverts
and these insects are seen in that way.
And so I could probably dig deeper into the folklore and kind of find out exactly where
that comes from or like what the stories are behind it.
I just didn't do that just because I needed to make sure I got all the information that
I needed to get kind of that basic all around information on dragonflies.
But of course, another episode we can touch and do that deep dive into the folklore of
these amazing creatures.
Right.
Okay.
So in the Native American cultures, they are viewed as messengers between the living and
the spirit world.
So essentially, they're seen as a symbol of transformation and renewal.
And due to the metamorphosis that dragonflies go through from water dwelling nymphs to airborne
adults, they are also seen as renewal of life and immortality of the soul.
So again, another one of those spirit world connection, right?
The connection, they also in Native American folklore are believed to have a connection
to dreams and illusions.
So the iridescent wings and their bodies are often viewed as symbols of life's illusions
and the importance of seeing beyond the illusions of life to the real truth of the matter, essentially.
And they also represent winding journey of self discovery.
So they are believed to be the souls of deceased.
Let's see, dreaming of the life that they once had here on in the living world.
Okay.
And also a symbol of happiness, speed and purity.
Their speed and purity represent new beginnings.
So all around kind of like that interesting spiritual connection between dragonflies and
human folklore, obviously.
So in Native American cultures, a lot of them are seen to be those messengers or a person
who has already passed on.
They are dreaming of the life that they once had.
So it's very interesting that we, you know, humans kind of see them in that light.
And then yeah, the new beginnings and that metamorphosis of a self discovery.
I definitely, I honestly, this one is not super hard to kind of figure out where that
comes from just because life is a journey.
As Sheryl Crow said, every day is a winding road.
And if you traverse your life and stuff, you're going to learn a lot of stuff about yourself.
You're going to be challenged.
You're going to have to make choices and decisions.
Some of us are challenged in ways like with me, I'm challenged with mental health.
So that means that when I wake up in the morning, I essentially, like some days are really worse
than others and some days are really easy.
And for me, when those hard days come, that's that choice that I'm faced with.
It's a challenge to say, okay, am I going to let the depression win and just stay in
bed all day or, you know, do nothing, right?
Or am I going to be brave and do what I can to like push that demon away, right?
And so it definitely is that metamorphosis.
So as the dragonfly is, you know, changing through its nymphal stage over time, so are
we.
We are changing over time all the time.
So definitely self discovery is pretty apparent on that one.
All right.
Let's move on to the European folklore.
So we've got European folklore and a lot of it actually comes from, and I'm kind of sad
that Simon isn't here to talk about this with me because, you know, he's right there.
But a lot of it comes from the Celtic cultures and people from that time, which I'm very
Irish.
So this ring's true for me.
It's pretty awesome.
In any case, here we go.
So in European folklore, dragonflies are actually seen a little differently.
They're associated with the devil and death, but there's that death and passing and the
afterlife.
So there's that kind of theme coming again.
They are particularly associated with the devil through the Scandinavian culture and
Eastern European.
So obviously not Celtic cultures.
They are sometimes called devils, devil's darning needles, or the devil's horses, which
is again, really fascinating.
That they are associated with devils.
I'm not really sure where that one came from.
So that might be that deep dive episode that we get into for dragonflies and why their
mythology is the way it is.
Right.
Okay.
So they were also believed in, and this is again, that Eastern European folklore and
legends that they were believed to stow up the eyes, ears or mouths of misbehaving children
while they were asleep.
So that's kind of spooky, but I kind of get it just because dragonflies do have that really
skinny long body shape.
And of course their mouth parts are, you know, we'll see.
I don't know.
But they also seem to have a connection to the fairy world.
Now we're getting into the Celtic folklore on this one.
So connection to the fairy world, the Celtic regions of Europe, there's a link between
the human and the magical realm of fairies.
And they are regarded as signs of the fairy encounters.
Irish folklore also tells us of little people who ride on dragonflies as horses and to travel
quickly like a blink of an eye.
And we did talk about the speed of the dragonfly, 18 miles an hour.
They are indeed one of the very fastest insects in the world.
Okay.
But yeah, so they use dragonflies as horses to travel quickly throughout the world.
And some stories actually imply that the dragonfly is the fairy itself in disguise and can only
be seen from like a certain angle.
So you have to be able to look at that dragonfly at the right angle and then you'd be able
to see the fairy.
I have actually seen some very interesting documentaries about people who still believe
in fairies today in Ireland and probably parts of England and Scotland.
But in any case, they do actually believe that fairies exist and that they see them.
And they did talk about dragonflies being fairies that are just traveling through our
world in disguise.
So it's kind of fascinating that the Celtic leaves kind of put dragonflies with fairies.
I know that there is a lot of artwork that depicts dragonflies alongside of fairies,
that kind of thing, the fae.
So in a lot of pop culture, like television shows and stuff, there is definitely a connection
between fairies and dragonflies.
One that comes to mind would be Fern Gully.
There was this wonderful animated movie back in, I want to say the mid 80s, maybe late
80s or so.
All I know is I loved this movie as a kid.
And in any case, they actually depicted dragonflies for the fairies that were riding on it.
So that kind of makes sense.
There you go.
Pop culture definitely follows that folklore.
So dragonflies are seen as messengers.
They're seen as the carriers of the deceased spirits into the afterlife.
They're seen as devils and fairies.
And they're also seen as good omens.
Some of them they're seen, you know, this is a positive thing.
Like they're given that harmonious kind of view and these kinds of things.
So that's really fascinating.
But that is all I have for today about dragonflies.
Yeah, thank you guys so much for being here.
Listen, if you have other really cool stories about dragonflies, if there's something that
I missed about these incredible creatures, please feel free to join my discord and tell
me all about it.
Either that or you can find us on the Facebook page and you can tell me about it there.
Either way, I check them daily.
I'm in discord constantly.
So yeah, yeah, check it out all the time.
And I'm always there.
So again, we are also on like most of the audio streaming platforms.
So if you can't watch us live or if you can't, you know, if you just don't like YouTube,
whatever it is, you can find us on I believe Amazon music.
You can find us on Spotify and a whole plethora of others, including iHeartRadio.
And if you're really, really into tarantulas, you can find me at Tarantula.
I have a couple of rehousing that I'm going to be doing, which of course I of course keep
those species spotlights.
So check that out because I love to include all kinds of really beneficial, really great
information on species, you know, specific species, of course.
And I've been doing a lot of diamond art.
So I love diamond art or I don't know how they call it, what they call it, but diamond
art is fascinating to me.
It really helps to soothe me.
And I really enjoy making these pieces of art through diamond art.
So I will, I can and will take commissions if there's something that you want me to make
as far as diamond art.
I can do that.
Just let me know.
And then we'll discuss all that stuff.
Yeah, as always have fun, Simon.
I hope the great ant expedition is going well for him.
I'm hoping that he sees and gets a whole bunch of cool inverts.
I hope Lily gets another versicolor.
I know that she recently lost her carabina versicolor, so really sad about that.
But yeah, I hope she gets another like two or three because that's just how we do.
And of course, thank you guys again so much for being here and for putting in those comments.
Go check out the Mantis Garden.
I'm sure he's going to post a really cool video about his expedition today.
But yeah, and thanks for listening.
We will see you guys next week.