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Dragonfly

A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonflies are known. An adult dragonfly's compound eyes have nearly 24,000 ommatidia each. Dragonflies are predatory insects, both in their aquatic nymphal stage (also known as ''naiads'') and as adults. In some species, the nymphal stage lasts up to five years, and the adult stage may be as long as 10 weeks, but most species have an adult lifespan in the order of five weeks or less, and some survive for only a few days. They are fast, agile fliers capable of highly accurate aerial ambush, sometimes migrating across oceans, and often live near water. Fossils of very large dragonfly-like insects, sometimes called griffinflies, are found from 325 million years ago (Mya) in Upper Carboniferous rocks. (Photo by George Wilson/NurPhoto)

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