American emerald
Cordulia shurtleffii
The American emerald is a dragonfly from the cool north of North America. It is mostly black, with a yellow ring near the start of its long tail. It zips over ponds and lakes catching insects.
Lives in
The northern United States and Canada, near ponds and lakes
Length
4.3 to 5.1 cm (1.7 to 2 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies cannot sting.
What does it eat?
Like all dragonflies, it catches flying insects in the air. Its babies live in the water and hunt there.
How big is it?
How long is it?
🍚as long as 8 grains of rice in a row🧱as long as 1.5 toy building bricks in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 10 seconds⚡moves 200 times its own body length every second
How big is American emerald compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
American emerald about 37 km/h (23 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its body is about 4.5 to 5 centimetres long, about as long as your finger.
2
The thin yellow ring sits between the second and third parts of its tail.
3
It lives in the north, from the northern United States up into Canada.
you asked
Most asked questions about American emerald
?Is the American emerald dangerous?
No. Dragonflies cannot sting and they do not hurt people.
?How big is the American emerald?
Its body is about 43 to 51 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Cordulia shurtleffii
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Corduliidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Corduliidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- American emerald (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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