Paddle-tailed darner
Aeshna palmata
Name means: “named after the little paddle-shaped parts at the tip of its tail”
The paddle-tailed darner is a dragonfly from western North America. At the very tip of its long tail it has little parts shaped like boat paddles. It zooms back and forth over lakes and ponds.
Lives in
Western Canada and the western United States, near lakes, ponds and slow streams
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies have no sting. Just watch it fly.
What does it eat?
It catches flying insects in the air. Its babies live under water and hunt small water animals.
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)
Paddle-tailed darner about 40 km/h (25 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It is common all over western Canada and the western United States.
2
It likes water with lots of plants growing thickly along the shore.
3
Like all dragonflies, it starts life under water and later climbs out to become a flying dragonfly.
you asked
Most asked questions about Paddle-tailed darner
?Where does the paddle-tailed darner live?
In western Canada and the western United States, near lakes, ponds and slow streams.
?Does the paddle-tailed darner sting?
No. Dragonflies have no sting at all.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Aeshna palmata
- Named by
- Hagen, 1856
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Aeshnidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Aeshnidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Paddle-tailed darner (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 Zvkemp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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