Anisoptera (dragonflies)

Code QO129999

Generally large to very large dragonflies, often brown in colour with yellow and/or green markings; the eyes of adults are close together or fused on top of the head. The Australian fauna comprises 45 species in 15 genera. Aeshnids occur in all types of inland water from mountain streams to ephemeral lakes and ponds. Some species are vagrant, but many are restricted exclusively to a narrow habitat and do not readily disperse.

The larvae have a fusiform body. The antennae in later instars are 6-7 segmented and tapered, never 4-segmented with the 3rd greatly flattened as in Gomphidae. (In early instars the antennae may be only 4-segmented, but not flattened). The labial mask is flat, held under the head not in front of the 'face', the prementum without setae. The epiproct may be either pointed or concave at its tip. If concave (as in the common and widespread Aeshna brevistyla and Hemianax papuensis ) then if the abdominal segments bear broad, rounded lateral lobes in place of postero-lateral points, the specimen is properly placed in the related family Neopetaliidae.

NB : A recent guide to the larvae of Australian Odonates (Hawking & Theischinger, 1999) has proposed a new classification system in which the family Aeshnidae has been divided into the families Telephlebiidae and Aeshnidae.

Reference:

Hawking, J.H. (1986) Dragonfly larvae of the River Murray system. Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation Technical Report No. 6., Wodonga.

Hawking, J.H. and Theischinger, G. (1999) Dragonfly Larvae (Odonata): A Guide to the Identification of Larvae of Australian Families and to the Identification and Ecology of Larvae from New South Wales . CRCFE Identification Guide No. 24., Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, Thurgoona.