Spiny Baskettail

Epitheca spinigera

The Spiny Baskettail is a special dragonfly with long, slender wings and a spiny body. It loves to fly around wetlands and is often seen darting over the water.

Lebensraum: Wetlands

Aussehen

The Spiny Baskettail is a medium-sized dragonfly with a dark, often metallic green or bronze body. Its transparent wings may have a subtle amber tint at the base. Males have distinctive spiny claspers at the end of their abdomen, giving them their unique name.

ReichAnimaliaStammArthropodaKlasseInsectaOrdnungOdonataFamilieCorduliidaeGattungEpitheca

Spiny Baskettail

Kategorie

Insekten

Seltenheit

Common

Gefahr

1/5 · Sehr gering

Snaps

Mach den ersten Snap!

Interessante Fakten

Its babies, called nymphs, live underwater for years before they become flying adults!

Male Spiny Baskettails use special 'baskets' on their tail to grab females during mating!

Some adult Spiny Baskettails only live a few weeks, but they make every moment count!

These dragonflies can hover perfectly still in mid-air, like a tiny helicopter!

Besondere Fähigkeiten

Spiny Baskettail can catch tiny flying insects mid-air with incredible agility, thanks to its powerful wings and basket-like legs.

Its larvae can breathe underwater and ambush smaller aquatic creatures, using a unique hinged jaw to snatch prey quickly.

Spiny Baskettail has huge compound eyes covering most of its head, giving it nearly 360-degree vision to spot prey and predators.

Maße und Details

Flügelspannweite: 60-80 mm
Größe: 40-50 mm
Lebenserwartung: 14-45 Tage
Fluggeschwindigkeit: 40 km/h
Anzahl der Beine: 6

Ernährung und Fütterung

This swift insect preys on smaller flying insects, while its young hunt underwater.

Altersunterschiede: Larvae are aquatic predators, adults hunt flying insects.

Hauptnahrung

Mosquitoes
Midges
Flies
Mayflies
Gnats
Small moths

Nahrungssuche

Pursuit

Ökologische Zusammenhänge

eaten by

Eastern Phoebe

Sayornis phoebe

Adult dragonflies are snatched from the air by this bird.

eaten by

Largemouth Bass

Micropterus salmoides

Fish eat Spiny Baskettail larvae that live in the water.

hunts

Mosquito

Aedes aegypti

Adult baskettails are voracious predators of flying mosquitoes.

Merkmale

Luftbewohnend

Luftbewohnende Tiere verbringen einen erheblichen Teil ihres Lebens in der Luft und nutzen den Flug für verschiedene Aktivitäten wie Jagd, Wanderungen oder Nestbau.

Insektenfressend

Dieses Merkmal kennzeichnet Organismen, deren Nahrung hauptsächlich aus Insekten und anderen kleinen Wirbellosen besteht.

Feuchtgebiet

Dieses Lebensraummerkmal kennzeichnet Arten, die in Feuchtgebieten vorkommen. Dies sind Landflächen, die dauerhaft oder saisonal mit Wasser gesättigt sind, darunter Marschland, Sümpfe und Moore.