Red-and-black flatwing
Heteragrion erythrogastrum
The red-and-black flatwing is a damselfly, a slim cousin of the dragonflies. Damselflies have a thin body like a matchstick and delicate see-through wings. This one lives in the warm forests of South America.
Lives in
South America, near forest streams
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Damselflies cannot bite or sting people.
What does it eat?
Like all damselflies, it catches small flying insects. Its babies live in the water and hunt tiny water animals.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Red-and-black flatwing about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its group name Heteragrion means the different damselfly.
2
Its babies grow up under water and climb out when they are ready to become flying grown-ups.
3
Its scientific name erythrogastrum means red belly.
you asked
Most asked questions about Red-and-black flatwing
?Is the red-and-black flatwing a dragonfly?
It is a damselfly, a slimmer cousin of the dragonflies.
?Is it dangerous?
No. Damselflies are harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Heteragrion erythrogastrum
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Heteragrionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Heteragrionidae
- Lives on
- South America
Where the facts come from
- Heteragrion (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 Marcos Magalhães de Souza. CC BY 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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