Tau emerald
The tau emerald is a black and yellow dragonfly with long legs. On its yellow face it has a dark mark shaped like the letter T. Its head is almost all eyes, so it can see nearly all around itself.
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Fun facts
It is one of the most common dragonflies in Australia.
It can grow from an egg to a flying dragonfly in less than six weeks.
Its babies can live in warm, shallow puddles that dry up later, so they hurry to grow up before the water is gone.
Its babies need clean water, so scientists can watch them to check if a lake or river is healthy.
Fish and birds like to eat it.
Most asked questions about Tau emerald
?Where does the tau emerald live?
It lives almost everywhere in Australia, even in dry inland places, as long as there is water to lay eggs in.
?How big is the tau emerald?
Its body is about 5 cm long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hemicordulia tau
- Named by
- Sélys, 1871
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Corduliidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Corduliidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Tau emerald (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 JJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ). CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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