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In this post I share a very unique small animal friend, the animal is a needle dragonfly. This post is my participation for the insects the world contest organized by 
The Needle Dragonfly's Unusual Tale
One thing that characterizes this animal is its small, slender and needle-like body size, so it is called a needle dragonfly. This one animal comes from the dragonfly family.
Needle dragonflies or commonly called damselfly, are insects belonging to the order Odonata, suborder Zygoptera (Lilies S., Christina, 1991). and Types of dragonflies are usually divided into two major groups, namely dragonflies or sibar-sibar and needle dragonflies (Amri and Toguan, 2008).
Needle dragonflies are also found in many water sources, such as rice fields, swamps, lakes and rivers. They choose to live in clean and unpolluted water sources to lay eggs so that their standard of living is guaranteed. That's why the presence of dragonflies can be used as an indication of whether the waters are still clean or polluted.
Adult needle dragonflies will hunt their prey in the air, this is done mainly on small insects. Therefore, the presence of needle dragonflies can also be a control against mosquito populations.
The male dragonfly protects its territory by flapping its wings open and displaying the iridescent copper patterns on the top hind wings prominently.
The researchers observed behaviors including as wing warning, wing slapping, flying friction, and belly bobbing in needle dragonflies. Wing-warning is defined as the rapid and forceful opening and closing of the wings, whereas wing-clapping is defined as the gradual opening and closing of the wings.
Needle dragonflies lay their eggs in plants. Those that lay their eggs underwater can submerge themselves for 30 minutes at a time, climbing along the stems of aquatic plants and laying eggs periodically. (Lawyer 1999).
When it becomes an egg, the needle dragonfly risks becoming food for the fish in these waters. And after hatching called larvae then become nymphs. And unlike the eggs, this needle dragonfly nymph is a predator for small fish and young fish.
Larvae catch prey by regurgitating a long, hinged lower lip, or "mask".
Needle dragonfly larvae can be distinguished from dragonfly larvae in general, by their breathing apparatus. Most needle dragonflies usually have three leaf-like gills on the tip of their abdomen, while other dragonflies have internal gills. After exiting the larval stage, it automatically flies into the air to find food and mate.
Needle dragonflies are hemimetabolous insects that do not have a pupa stage in their development.
Insects that are rarely found are very beautiful with color combinations that really captivate my heart when I see them. Almost every Sunday I go to the fields, just yesterday I saw this dragonfly. I took this photo of the dragonfly when I went to the Blang Rata rice field, Sakti District, Pidie, Aceh.
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