MadSci Network: General Biology
Query:

Re: Does a dragonfly bite?

Date: Thu Sep 23 08:57:03 1999
Posted By: Hester Wain, Post-doc/Fellow, Department of Biology
Area of science: General Biology
ID: 936895353.Gb
Message:

Hello,

The easy answer to this is of course yes, otherwise they wouldn't be able to eat!

However, if the question was "can they bite humans?", the answer is still yes, but they don't usually and are not poisonous. To get bitten by a dragonfly you first have to hold it, and that's not easy as they are usually flying. The only reason I know they can bite is that I have on some odd occasions done this. Sometimes when they emerge from their larval casing (exuvium) they are crippled because they have not had enough space to dry. When this used to happen with the big dragonflies in our pond I would look after them by feeding them flies, because they couldn't fly to get their own. It was then that I got bitten because the dragonfly wasn't sure which was me and which was the fly. However, it was only a small nip and did not draw blood, ladybird bites are far more painful and common.

Hope this helps,
Hes


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