Anisoptera (dragonflies)

Code QO139999

Medium to large dragonflies, often brown in colour with yellow and/or green markings, the eyes of adults widely separated, never touching on top of the head. The Australian fauna comprises 38 species in 6 genera. They inhabit running or still water.

Gomphid larvae are short and rounded, but not so markedly round as in Corduliidae and Libellulidae. The labial mask is flat, not held in front of the 'face'. The antennae never develop more than four segments. The third antennal segment usually is flattened and paddle-like or else thick and club-like, not finely tapered. The fore tarsi are 2-segmented (in mature larvae), not 3-segmented as in other odonates.

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

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.