Dingy dusk-darter

Zyxomma petiolatum

Name means: “joined eyes and a little stalk, after its big touching eyes and its very thin waist”

Eats: Other bugs and small animals Dragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The dingy dusk-darter is a chocolate brown dragonfly with big emerald green eyes. It wakes up when the sun goes down. In the evening it zooms low over the water and snaps up midges and mosquitoes.

Lives in

Many parts of Asia, New Guinea, northern Australia and Pacific islands, near ponds and swamps

Top speed

about 40 km/h (25 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. Dragonflies have no sting, and this one even eats mosquitoes.

What does it eat?

It hunts midges and mosquitoes over the water. Its babies live under water and hunt there.

Photo of Dingy dusk-darter — Picture by Rison Thumboor from Thrissur, India. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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)

Dingy dusk-darter about 40 km/h (25 mph)

A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

It is most active at dusk, but it also flies on cloudy days.

It is an extremely fast flyer.

In the daytime it rests among plants and is hard to find.

It lays its eggs in small pools, ponds, swamps and slow rivers.

Its tail has a very thin part near the body, which gave it its scientific name.

you asked

Most asked questions about Dingy dusk-darter

?When can you see the dingy dusk-darter?

Mostly in the evening, flying low over water. In the day it hides in plants.

?What does the dingy dusk-darter eat?

Midges and mosquitoes that it catches while flying.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Zyxomma petiolatum
Group: Dragonflies and damselflies
Family: Libellulidae
Classification: Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
Lives on: Asia, Australia and Oceania
Also known as: Long-tailed duskdarter, Brown dusk hawk, Dingy duskflyer

Where the facts come from

Zyxomma petiolatum (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 Rison Thumboor from Thrissur, India. CC BY 2.0, 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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