Snaketails

Ophiogomphus

Snaketails are special dragonflies that look like snakes! They have long, slender bodies and colorful wings. You can often find them near water, where they love to fly and hunt for food.

Habitat: Wetlands

Appearance

The Snaketails is a slender dragonfly typically adorned with striking yellow and black stripes along its body. Its large, clear wings are held out to the sides at rest, and its widely separated eyes distinguish it from other dragonfly families.

KingdomAnimaliaPhylumArthropodaClassInsectaOrderOdonataFamilyGomphidaeGenusOphiogomphus

Snaketails

Interesting facts

An adult Snaketail's entire head is almost entirely made of its two huge eyes!

Baby Snaketails (nymphs) live in water for years before becoming flying adults!

Some Snaketails are named after rivers where they were first discovered!

They catch other insects mid-air using their spiky legs like a basket!

Special abilities

Snaketails have massive compound eyes that help them spot tiny insect prey from far away.

Young Snaketails can breathe underwater using gills inside their rectum, helping them survive as larvae.

Measurements & details

Wingspan: 50-80 mm
Size: 35-65 mm
Lifespan: 20-60 days
Flight Speed: 15 km/h
Leg Count: 6

Diet & Feeding

Snaketails are fierce hunters, eating many kinds of smaller insects, both as larvae and adults.

Age differences: Larvae (nymphs) are ambush predators of aquatic invertebrates; adults actively hunt flying insects.

Primary Foods

mosquitoes
midges
flies
mayflies
caddisflies

Foraging Method

Pursuit

Ecological connections

hunts

Lake Midge

Chironomus plumosus

Adults capture and eat these flying insects for energy.

hunts

Olives Mayfly

Baetis rhodani

Nymphs ambush these tiny aquatic insects in streams.

eaten by

Brown Trout

Salmo trutta

Trout often prey on the aquatic Snaketail nymphs.

eaten by

Barn Swallow

Hirundo rustica

Swallows are agile hunters of adult Snaketails in flight.

Traits

Aerial

Aerial creatures spend a significant portion of their lives airborne, utilizing flight for various activities such as hunting, migration, or nesting.

Colorful

Colorful describes organisms or objects displaying a wide range of bright and distinct colors.

Insectivorous

This trait identifies organisms whose diet primarily consists of insects and other small invertebrates.

Wetland

This habitat trait identifies species found in wetlands, which are areas of land saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, including marshes, swamps, and bogs.