You may have seen dragonflies resting on plants. But are you sure those were dragonflies? What if they were damselflies? Both dragonflies and damselflies are flying insects belonging to the group odonata. At a glance, both look similar they have tiny antennae, extremely large eyes, two pairs of membranous wings with many small veins, etc. It is when you look closer and carefully that you’ll realise they’re different
Here are the differences between them
- The easiest thing to do is to first look at the wing position when they are resting. If the wings are spread, then you’re looking at a dragonfly. However, if the wings are closed and run parallel to the body, then it’s a damselfly.
- Speaking of the body, that’s a pointer too. Damselflies have a long and slender body, while dragonflies have a bulkier and shorter body.
- The next difference is in their eyes. This would certainly require a closer look than the earlier two. As mentioned before, both have large eyes. However, the eyes of the damselflies are slightly smaller than those of the dragonflies and have a small gap between them. The eyes of the dragonflies, meanwhile, are located close to each other.
- Let’s return to the wings. In damselflies, the forewings (the ones closer to the head) and the hindwings are similar in size and shape. In dragonflies though, they are unequal – the hindwings are wider at the base than the forewings. In fact, both sets of wings are narrow at the base for the damselflies, while they are broader for the dragonflies.
Picture Credit : Google
