Resting On A Pussy Willow

Dragonflies are ancient insects. They have been around for 300 million years and there are about 3,012 species. Dragonflies live on every continent except Antarctica. Most of a dragonfly's life is spent as a nymph, beneath the water's surface. The larval stage of dragonflies lasts up to five years in large species. Dragonflies have excellent vision with each compound eye containing 28,000 lenses or ommatidia and a dragonfly uses about 80% of its brain to process all of the visual information it receives. This particular species is a Four-spotted Skimmer.