The Wonder of Dragonflies

Submitted by szgarvey on May 29th, 2025

UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers with undergraduate Sophia Phillips. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers, who researches dragonflies for his dissertation, delights in sharing his knowlege of them.

And he did just that--to several hundred guests--at the recent Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on insect life stages.

Brothers, a member of the Stacey Coombs lab, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences, is particularly interested “in the interplay between capture tools and behavioral tactics of predators, specifically in the suborder Anisoptera, the dragonflies.”

At his display table, he fielded scores of questions and showed a live flame skimmer (Libellula saturata), nymphs, and informational materials. Undergraduate student Sophia Phillips, a third-year animal biology major, assisted in answering the questions.

"A lot of people were blown away by aquatic insect life cycles in general, but many were especially surprised to learn that dragonflies are aquatic, and many didn't expect there to be as many species as there are--more than 6400 species of dragonflies and damselflies combined!" Brothers commented.

"One of the most common questions we got was how long dragonflies live, and people were surprised to learn that the larvae can live for up to eight years, but the adults are always less than a year, and usually only for a few weeks to months. One young visitor asked us where the antennae were on them. They are present, but they're very reduced in dragonflies since they rely so much on their vision, so it's hard to locate them."

"Lastly someone asked about their eyes, and if their eyes are the biggest among insects--which they are, having up to 30,000 simple eyes within each of their compound eyes."

Close-up of a dragonfly nymph. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) — Close-up of a dragonfly nymph shown by UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Dragonflies belong to the insect order Odonata. Like all insects, they have a head, thorax and abdomen. Dragonflies have nearly 360-degree vision. “Dragonflies are incredibly successful predators," Brothers said. "The adults catch prey up to 97 percent of the time."

As predators, dragonflies employ two broad strategies: active, and sit-and-wait (ambush), Brothers said. “When they're actively pursuing prey, they usually rely on speed or endurance. When they wait for prey, they usually rely on stealth, luring or surprise.”

Other aquatic insects discussed were dobsonflies and alderflies (order Neuroptera), stoneflies (order Plecoptera) and mayflies (order Ephemeroptera).

Brothers also displayed a number of dragonfly books. One of the newest books available is "Dragonflies (Anisoptera) of California," the work of Kathy Biggs and Sandra von Arb, earlier participants in Bohart Museum open houses. Their book features the 73 species of dragonflies that occur in California, and includes photos and descriptions of both the males and females. The book also includes, for each species, the habitat, distribution maps, flight periods, behaviors and oviposition techniques.

The Bohart Museum, home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It is directed by Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and an associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The next open house will be "Moth Night" on Saturday, July 12 from 7 to 11 p.m. A blacklighting setup with ultralighting will be displayed outside the museum to observe night-flying insects. John De Benedictis, better known as “The Moth Man,” traditionally sets up the display. Inside, visitors can learn about moths from Lepidoptera collection curator Jeff Smith and fellow Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas. All open houses are free and family friendly.

Public walk-in hours are Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1 to 4:30 p.m. More information is available on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu/ or by emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers and undergraduate Sophia Phillips answering questions. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) — UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers and undergraduate Sophia Phillips answer questions at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)