Get introduced !
|
Order Odonata includes Dragonflies and Damselflies, which
are very similar yet different insects.These beautiful insects are found
world-wide except very cold regions like Antarctica, Iceland, Northern Canada
etc.They are called as raptors of Insect world, as they
are voracious predators.
The Name of the order Odonata has been derived from the Greek
word 'Odonton' which means tooth, and literally translated as 'toothed
jaw'. It refers of biting with strong mandible. Entomologist Johann
Christian Fabricius named this order, who studied their mouth parts
to identify them. These insect are present on earth from almost 325 million
years ago. In ancient carboniferous period, these were some of the largest
insects ever present, classified as Protodonata, which disappeared in
Triassic period, before dinosaurs appeared. Odonates are closely related
to mayflies (
order: Ephemeroptera).
There are around 5500 species of Odonates present in
world, of which more than 500 are present in India (286 dragonflies and 214
damselflies).
These are predacious insects, both as immature and adults.
Adults are quick and agile flyers, and flight pattern is usually
characteristic for a particular species. For example, some of them can
fly at speed up to 36 km/hr, some can hover, others can change directions
instantly in flight (darners), some can hover very close to water
surface(skimmers).
|
Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda (Greek, Arthron+podos,Jointed legged animals, No bones, Exoskeleton supporting muscles,segmented body)
Class: hexapoda/Insecta ( 6 legged animals,body devided as head+thorax+abdomen, Insects)
Subclass: Pterygota ( Insects with wings)
Division: Exopterygota (Simple metamorphosis, No Pupal stage, Nyph gradually changes in to adult)
Order: Odonata ( Two pair of wings with toothed/biting mouth parts,thin legs, small antennae, eyes almost cover head, aquatic nymphs)
Sub orders:
Zygoptera- Damselflies (Greek:Zygos-paired,ptera-wings, that is they have a pair of identical wings,hold wings above the body while resting,can fold their wings )
Epiprocta- Dragonflies ( Hind wing broader than fore wing, Hold their wings perpendicular to, away from the body)
Infra order:
Anisoptera (true dragonflies, Unequal hind and fore wings, can not fold their wings while at rest)
Epiophlebioptera (former Anisozygoptera) : All the extinct/fossil species, only two species remaining assigned to Genus Epiophlebia. These are considered as connecting link between dragonflies and damselflies, They have similar pairs of wings, and can fold their wings at rest like damselfies, but share more recent and closer ancestry with Dragonflies.
Cladogram Showing Odonates can be seen in the following link :
(Here at this link you can see tree diagrams which represent phylogenetic relationships between various taxa and where Odonates stand in the phylogenetic tree of life)
|
No comments:
Post a Comment