Dragonfly

Posted by Jerry - a moment in time [...] (Chicago, United States) on 18 May 2008 in Animal & Insect and Portfolio.

The earliest flying insects found so far belonged to Order Protodonata. Though now extinct, these creatures were closely related to the present-day Order Odonata to which the dragonfly belongs. Indeed, the first winged insects in the fossil record are very similar in structure to the dragonfly we know today, a creature that has changed little for the past 200 million years. The earliest dragonflies, however, were much larger than modern species. The biggest example ever found had a wingspan of 30 inches (76 cm), or two and a half feet! This early dragonfly was discovered in France and was four times as large as any dragonfly species living today. [...] source: http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/nature/q0201.shtml

Sanibel Island, Florida USA, 2008

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