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Sticker of Australian emperor
Bug card No. 0077 of 1,500

Australian emperor

Anax papuensis
Name means: “the king from Papua”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsDragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The Australian emperor is a very big dragonfly with a black and yellow striped tail. It has yellow-green eyes and a yellow face. It flies slowly up and down over the water like a guard on patrol, then suddenly zooms off fast.

Lives in
All over Australia, plus New Zealand, New Guinea and some islands nearby, near big ponds and lakes
Length
7 cm (2.8 in)
Wingspan
11 cm (4.3 in)
Top speed
about 43 km/h (27 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies have no sting. A big one may nip if you hold it, so just watch it fly.
What does it eat?
It catches flying insects in the air. Its babies live under water and hunt there.
For real!Photo of Australian emperor
Picture by Bidgee. CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Australian emperor about 7 cm long (2.8 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)

How wide are its wings?

Australian emperor wings about 11 cm tip to tip (4.3 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 2 toy building bricks in a rowwings as wide as your handcould fly across a whole football pitch in 8.8 secondsmoves 170 times its own body length every second

How big is Australian emperor compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its wings measure about 11 centimetres from tip to tip, as long as a pencil.

2

When a male sneaks up on a rival, it flies in a clever way so the other dragonfly hardly sees it moving until it is very close.

3

Males guard their females and chase other dragonflies away in noisy air battles.

4

Females lay their eggs under water.

5

It flies all summer long, from September to May.

you asked

Most asked questions about Australian emperor

?How big is the Australian emperor dragonfly?

It is very big, up to 7 centimetres long with wings about 11 centimetres across.

?Is the Australian emperor dangerous?

No. It has no sting and is harmless to people.

?Where does the Australian emperor live?

All over Australia and in New Zealand, New Guinea and some nearby islands.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Anax papuensis
Named by
Burmeister, 1839
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Aeshnidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Aeshnidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania, Asia
Also known as
Yellow emperor dragonfly, Baron dragonfly

Where the facts come from

  1. Australian emperor (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Bidgee. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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