Western pondhawk
Erythemis collocata
The western pondhawk is a dragonfly from western North America. It is a fast hunter that catches other insects in the air. It is especially good at catching mosquitoes.
Lives in
Western Canada, the western United States and Mexico, by ponds
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies do not sting, and this one eats mosquitoes.
What does it eat?
It catches flying insects, including a kind of mosquito that can spread malaria.
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)
Western pondhawk about 40 km/h (25 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It hunts the western malaria mosquito.
2
It mostly hunts at dusk, when the mosquitoes gather in big swarms.
3
It finds its food with its eyes, so it attacks less and less as the sky gets darker.
you asked
Most asked questions about Western pondhawk
?Do western pondhawks eat mosquitoes?
Yes. They hunt swarms of mosquitoes at dusk.
?Is the western pondhawk dangerous?
No. Dragonflies cannot sting and are harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Erythemis collocata
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Libellulidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Erythemis collocata (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 Eugene Zelenko. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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