Unlike our skin, chitin is not made of cellular material and is unable to stretch or grow. By contrast a human blink lasts on average 100-150 milliseconds. Once captured, the labium is drawn back towards the head, and the nymph will devour its prey using a set of powerful mandibles that can easily deal with the flesh of fish and tough Cuticles of insects.Īs with other insects, the ‘skin’ ( Cuticle) of Odonata is made of chitin, a tough and protective but inelastic horn-like substance. The nymph extends the labium very rapidly to seize its prey, taking only 15-40 milliseconds to snatch its victim with its pincers before they can react and escape. In this position, the labium may cover the front of the head giving it the appearance of a mask, hence its common name. The labium is long and terminated with two pincers, at rest it is folded it beneath the head and thorax. Odonata larvae have a uniquely adapted mouthpart called the Labium or mask, used to capture prey. Gills in damselfly larvae are very different, they are external and form 3 fan-like structures that situated at the end of the abdomen, called Caudal Lamellae, which are also used to propel the larva during swimming. The water is then expelled from the anus and can be used as locomotion to escape other predators – dragonfly larvae are ‘jet propelled’. To enable them to live underwater, dragonfly and damselfly larvae must extract oxygen from the water using gills.ĭragonfly larvae gills are internal in the rectum, and muscular contractions draw water in through the rear and force it over the gills where respiratory transfer takes place. They have 3 Caudal Lamellae acting as gills at the tip of the abdomen. Damselfly larvaeĭamselfly nymphs are usually smaller and thinner and with a less tapered abdomen, echoing the differences between them in their adult life. The larvae of dragonflies and damselflies have some general differences: Dragonfly larvaeĭragonfly nymphs tend to be larger, with broader and flatter bodies, often with a pointed abdomen. Reproductive organs are undeveloped and non-functional. They have wing buds that will form the adult insects’ wings, but these are not yet fully developed and remain unused until they leave the water following emergence. They are insects, and have a body divided into head, thorax and abdomen, six segmented legs, and large compound eyes.
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