Dragonflies have been the theme for the week so was the wingspan of the biggest ever dragonfly nearest to that of
a) a sparrow
b) a kestrel
c) an albatross
The biggest dragonfly ancestor from the fossil record is the Meganeura which flew around 300 million years ago towards the end of the carboniferous period. It had a wingspan of about 70 cm (which is over two feet in old money), just a little under that of a modern kestrel. By contrast the largest living member of the Odonata today is the Forest Giant Damselfly (Megaloprepus caerulatus) of Central and South America which has a wingspan of 19cm (7.5") which is about the same as a Blue Tit or American Redstart.
For more on dragonflies and more besides see this week's #CreteNature Blog: Dragonfly Summer
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Recent Posts
-
Last week we finished our wander along the sands of Ferma Bay at a place where a ring of rocks form a sort of lagoon. This is a perfect...
-
Today, March 20 th , sees the arrival of the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere (or the Autumn Equinox in the southern) where the...
-
Blue-winged Grasshopper, Oedipoda caerulescens Here we are, back at the point where we regained the trail last week, and it looks a...
-
Last time we chatted, I mentioned that I was starting work on a new book, looking at the state of British mammals in times gone by and ...
-
This week is National Insect Week in the UK and there’s loads of stuff going about saying how good insects are for us humans, but we’ve ...
No comments:
Post a Comment