Even children know that the fastest animal in the world - a cheetah. It accelerates at a short distance to a speed of 130 km / h and can overtake a car! Do you know what is the fastest insect in the world? The article will answer this question.
Which insect is the fastest?
Scientists have found that the fastest dragonfly on the planet is the Australian dragonfly or Austrophlebia costalis. She is able to reach a speed of 50-55 km / h! She was even listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest insect in the world, recording a speed of her flight of 58 km / h! Many scientists report that according to their observations and calculations, Austrophlebia costalis is able to cover a distance of 100 km in part. However, this fact has not been documented yet.
Amazing flight
Developing super-speed, an Australian dragonfly with its wings makes 100-150 strokes in one second! The human eye is not able to keep track of its movements, swings are tracked using a special super-precise apparture. The data was obtained recently - in 1999.
During the study of Austrophlebia costalis, entomologists found out that this is the fastest insect in the world that can cover just huge distances - thousands of kilometers! Often, even in the open ocean, dragonflies are found, while they are removed for 1,700 or more kilometers from their permanent habitat.
The special structure of the wings
By the way, all dragonflies fly very quickly, and not just the Australian one. The high speed of their flight is provided by a special flywheel device of the wings. It is noteworthy that for better maneuvering, the dragonfly flaps its front and rear wings in turn, and at the same time to increase flight speed. Also on their transparent wings closer to the apex there is pterostigma - a cuticular thickening, consisting of denser and pigmented veins, looks like a dark-colored area. Pterostigma performs such useful functions: due to the weighting of the wing tip, it increases the amplitude of its wingspan, strengthens its leading edge, dampens dangerous vibrations and self-oscillation of the wings when the insect reaches its maximum flight speed.
general description
In addition to being the fastest insect in the world, dragonfly is also an amazing creature. They appeared long before the dinosaurs, being one of the most ancient creatures on the planet. According to scientists, it was dragonflies who were the first on Earth to master airspace.
It is noteworthy that during evolution over many millions of years, these insects have not changed much. Prehistoric rocker arms (as they are popularly called) looked the same as modern ones.
Dragonfly is a predator. Not a single victim can escape from it, since it is the fastest insect in the world and also an excellent hunter: it intercepts mosquitoes, flies and midges right on the fly, determining their flight path and the angle at which it is most convenient for it to grasp in a split second prey. Dragonfly is never wrong! And she is also very voracious. In just one hour, it is able to catch and eat 50 flies.
Miraculous vision
But the most amazing feature of the "rocker" is the structure of its huge eyes. Scientifically, they are called facet. They look like two large convex semicircles, located on the sides of the head, motionless. They consist of 30 thousand separate eyes - facets, each of which sees a tiny part of the surrounding world, and together they give a three-dimensional mosaic picture. Moreover, the review of the dragonfly's vision covers almost 360 degrees, that is, she sees everything in front, from the sides and behind at the same time. The lower eyes facets distinguish colors, and the upper ones only the shape of objects.
Researchers found that dragonflies are very short-sighted, they can clearly see only from a distance of two meters, but at the same time they have exceptional maneuverability, accuracy of flight and quick reaction. How is this possible for scientists remains a mystery.
Now you know which insect is the fastest in the world, and what features it differs.