A person sometimes pays so little attention to all kinds of cockroaches, crawling and flying very close by. And all because he knows about insects very little interesting and unusual. But this small world, occupying the entire planet, is full of important, interesting and unsolved mysteries. For example, the eye of a dragonfly. This is an amazing organ of vision, and the dragonfly does not have a pair of eyes, but several thousand!
Beauty dragonfly
Dragonfly - a representative of the insect world, belonging to a squad with an unusual name - the ancient amphibiont well-flying insects, or the infraclass of winged insects. However, the scientific community is still arguing how and why it is necessary to separate dragonflies from the rest of the insect world. After all, they are very unusual creatures. According to some reports, dragonfly is one of the oldest representatives of the living world on our planet. Everything is interesting in it: from the method of breeding to the flight technique. And the dragonfly's eye is a real miracle of nature. However, the whole world around us is a great miracle.
Dragonfly structure
According to entomologists, there are 6,650 species of dragonflies on our planet, and one tenth of them are fossil species. These insects come in very different sizes. The wingspan of the smallest representatives is 20 mm, and the largest dragonfly spreads its wings by 191 mm. Dragonflies are beautiful insects that are usually quite bright in color. But their body consists of the same departments as all insects:
Insects are isolated in a separate world, because they have such a body structure, and they all have three pairs of limbs attached to the chest. But the dragonfly is an amazing creature. She is considered the most gluttonous predator of the planet among insects. According to scientists, she eats 40 flies in two hours. But not only gluttony is the amazing quality of a dragonfly. Perhaps the most unique in it are the organs of vision. The eye of a dragonfly is an entire optical laboratory.
How many eyes does a dragonfly have?
In appearance, this insect has only 2 huge round eyes. But in fact, this is an absolutely wrong idea. Indeed, the structure of the eye of a dragonfly is amazing - it consists of several tens of thousands of small eyes, there are up to 30 thousand. Rather, they will be called facets correctly. They are very, very small and planted so close to each other that they seem to be one huge eye. But facets look separately from each other. It turns out a huge review in all directions, although each facet sees quite a bit.
The dragonfly's visual range is small - only about 8 meters. But that’s enough for her. Dragonfly eye friction is surprising not only in the number of facets that make it up. These organs of vision have a cone-shaped shape: the wide part is the visible surface, and with a narrow facet all facets are assembled into a single unit deep in the eye. Unlike a person who, thanks to the lens, sees the image upside down, and then the brain processes the information as expected, the dragonfly initially sees the direct image.
Big eyes? No tiny eyes
If you look at the eyes of a dragonfly under a microscope, you can see that they are different in size: at the top of the facet is larger and smaller at the bottom. In addition, scientists have found that the upper facets see only blue, and those located below, other shades. From the point of view of a dragonfly, this is very convenient. After all, insects flying against the sky or below are more visible to the hunter. The dragonfly also sees ultraviolet. Scientists have found that another feature of the faceted eye is its ability to distinguish between flickering light. The insects that feed the dragonfly quickly flap their wings, and the hunter sees this and attacks.
Look back
Those interested in dragonflies ask if the dragonfly has simple eyes or not. An interesting fact is that these insects have two complex organs of vision, consisting of thousands of facets, as well as three simple ones that have one lens and are located on the crown of the insect. Two complex and three simple eyes allow you to get an almost circular view. And along with the maneuverability and speed of flight, this dragonfly is enough to lead a well-fed life.
The most agile and fast
Not only the dragonfly's eye is amazing in this insect. Some wings are worth it! They have small specks of thickening, called the wing eye. The same designs on airplanes were invented by aviation designers. This part helps to prevent the wings from swinging and breaking during flight. By the way, a dragonfly flies at an amazing speed - up to 100 km / h.
And the dragonfly larvae that live in ponds are the most unusual inhabitants of ponds and ditches. Their correct name is nymphs. They live a long time. They spend 2 years in a pond. But the adults themselves, the correct name of which are adults, live 2 times less. This period is only 10 months if they do not die earlier. Nymphs larvae, while in water, shed 10 times and grow up to 4-5 centimeters in length, becoming almost the largest insects among neighbors in the pond. The larva moves like a squid - with the help of a special bag in which it draws in water and then pushes it out with force, like a jet engine. Unusual is the way in which the larva catches food using the lower lip for this. In a calm state, this organ is complex and placed on the front of the head. Its correct name is "mask". But when a tadpole or some beetle swims past, the lip unfolds and, with the help of two hooks located at its end, catches the prey and brings it to the mouth.
Dragonfly is an amazing representative of the insect world. This is a beautiful, fast and unusual helper for people in protecting plants from pests. Yes, dragonflies destroy several tens of thousands of insects, mostly harming plants, for their rather short life. And they deserve respect and attention from the person.