The flying aces of the insect world
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The flying aces of the insect world

Earth

Muntasir Akash
02 October, 2019, 12:20 pm
Last modified: 02 October, 2019, 12:41 pm

Related News

  • Pesky bugs do not stand a chance against this automatic indoor insect trap
  • Flying aces of the insect world
  • Can bugs be a bigger part of the human food chain?
  • Insects are losing the ability to fly, samples from sub-Antarctic Islands back Darwin’s theory
  • China approves human trial of Covid vaccines produced from insect cells

The flying aces of the insect world

Odonates are the solo exception among insects that can propel each of their four wings independently, which gives them the capability of extreme maneuverability, including sharp twist and turns and even flying backwards

Muntasir Akash
02 October, 2019, 12:20 pm
Last modified: 02 October, 2019, 12:41 pm
Crimson in color, male of Ruddy Marsh Skimmer is vibrant to watch and a common resident of our water-bodies. Photo: Muntasir Akash/ TBS
Crimson in color, male of Ruddy Marsh Skimmer is vibrant to watch and a common resident of our water-bodies. Photo: Muntasir Akash/ TBS

Foring! The name unearths excitement, joy and adventure. Who can recall the childhood memories of tying up the insect to make it fly like a kite? Indeed, the vibrant flutterer did always throw challenges in chasing and catching pursuit of a kid.

They come with iridescent colours, large bulbous eyes, long, slender tails and strong veined wing-pairs. The insects that we lovingly call foring in Bangla are of a specialist and ancient flying order – the Odonata.

In layman's terms, they are recognized as dragonflies and damselflies. 

Pied Paddy Skimmer Neurothemis tullia. Photo: Muntasir Akash/ TBS
Pied Paddy Skimmer Neurothemis tullia. Photo: Muntasir Akash/ TBS

The first flyers

Odonates are the first among the insect kingdom to have conquered the aerial domain. Evolved in the Carboniferous era around 250 million years ago, the Odonate wings have flagged the triumph of insects over land and air. They set the invertebrate state of art for flying. The mastery of flying does not roam around, with aerial expertise, Odonates vie for the best hunter award.

Dragons in the air, dragons under water

Odonates have dual modes of life. They lay eggs in water and live there until adulthood. For other creepy-crawlies, this is a bad news. For scientists, it is a remarkably complex and equally interesting life cycle.

The life exhibits three stages: egg, nymph and adult. The first two is always aquatic, gill-breather, a much-prolonged form than its adulthood stage. The free flying terrestrial lung-breathers are what we see around and it constitutes only one brief stage of its life.

Having said so, all three equally predates on any prey fit under their mandible.

Assassin-class adaptations

Odonate nymphs go for several molts before merging into a flier. Unlike the scooper and chaser adults, soft-bodied juvies are ambush killers and for this, they have the ability of walking along the waterbed. Surprisingly, as grown-ups, Odonates give up walking. They can sit, but not walk; their legs being angled in 45° to catch prey in mid-air. Compound eyes become large and domical to ensure a broad range 360° view. 

All four of Odonate's wings are extraordinarily uncoupled. The wings have no connection with each other and could beat up independently.

Dragonflies have the ability of hovering and turning 180° while in flight and flying backwards. The helicopter we see today is a giant mechanical dragonfly on its own.

Pied Bush Dart, Copera ciliata, female. Photo Muntasir Akash/ TBS
Pied Bush Dart, Copera ciliata, female. Photo Muntasir Akash/ TBS

Who is who

Based on body structure, Odonata are divided into two major suborders, viz: Zygoptera (damselflies) and Anisoptera (dragonflies). To keep the chronicle simple, damselflies are simply the delicate, comparatively weak miniature dragons having narrow, equally proportionate weak wings than other counterparts - the Anisopterans are with a robust, much larger dimension. Both subgroups have many families, some of which can stand as the most graceful insects.

The enigmatic yet least known

Of about 5,900 worldwide known Odonate species, merely 600 have been well documented from the Indian Subcontinent. In Bangladesh, Odontology, the study of dragonflies and damselflies, is still sprouting. Being a country from subtropics, the marshes, swamps, ditches, ponds, lakes and estuaries of Bangladesh offers an ideal residence for Odonata and a rich place to study Odontology.

Pied Paddy Skimmer Neurothemis tullia, immature male. Photo Muntasir Akash/ TBS
Pied Paddy Skimmer Neurothemis tullia, immature male. Photo Muntasir Akash/ TBS

A strong string in the web

In addition to aestheticism, dragonflies and damselflies are indispensable parts of the food web. Under water, Odonate nymphs are the chief predators of dipteran maggots i.e., the juvenile gnats, midges, mosquitoes and flies. Whereas the adult flies are always treated as delicacy to the grown-ups. Therefore, the next time you see dragonflies, they are doing pest-controls for free!

Subordinately, the nymph and adult warrior flies are naturally preyed upon by numerous shorebirds, herons, storks, bee-eaters, kingfishers etc. respectively. Without them, the larger animals would be in dire states.

Dragonflies are valuable bio-indicators and efficient pest repellers. Their life is interlaced with water. Many of them are strictly habitat-specific, presence or absence can actually say what is going on in the web of life.

The Odonates are now winning the science spotlights. Dragonfly enthusiasts in Bangladesh are increasing day by day. You can also join in!

Top News

Insect / Dragonflies / Foring

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Photo: Collected
    Bangladesh among top 20 prospective solar farm capacity nations
  • The war has blocked Ukraine’s grain exports by sea, cutting off vital supplies for countries from Somalia to Egypt.Photographer: Islam Safwat/Bloomberg
    Russia is winning from the global food crisis it helped create
  • PM for protecting environment during implementation of development projects
    PM for protecting environment during implementation of development projects

MOST VIEWED

  • A second bear cub in captivity. Photo was taken this week from Menkiyangpara, Bandarban. Its mother was presumably poached. Its further fate is still unknown. Photo_  Khalid Mahmud
    Saving a black bear cub in the Hill Tracts
  • Their plumage is beaded with numerous eye-like spots, akin to its namesake, the peacock. Photo: eBird
    Of peacock-pheasant, jungle rules, and lucky strike: A birdwatching story
  • Clownfishes host anemone in the reef and raise babies there. Photo Collected
    Parental care in the fish world
  • Finding fantastic beasts: A camera-trapping story from our forgotten forests 
    Finding fantastic beasts: A camera-trapping story from our forgotten forests 
  • Greater hog badger. Photo Wich'yanan Limparungpatthanakij via iNaturalist
    The greater hog badger, cornered by a hunting-driven extinction crisis
  • Black-headed bulbul. Moments captured through viewfinder are priceless. Photo Muntasir Akash
    Mastering the art of conservation photography

Related News

  • Pesky bugs do not stand a chance against this automatic indoor insect trap
  • Flying aces of the insect world
  • Can bugs be a bigger part of the human food chain?
  • Insects are losing the ability to fly, samples from sub-Antarctic Islands back Darwin’s theory
  • China approves human trial of Covid vaccines produced from insect cells

Features

Psycure has received various awards for their extraordinary contributions to promoting Sustainable Development Goals. Photo: Courtesy

Psycure: Meet the organisation serving the underserved university students (and beyond) with mental healthcare 

8h | Panorama
Underlying problems such as school dropouts need to be addressed first before taking a legal route to stop child labour. Photo: Reuters

‘Child labour in a country like Bangladesh is primarily a development issue, not so much of enforcement’

10h | Panorama
The balcony railings of the Boro Sardar Bari in Sonargaon. Made of cast iron, these railings feature vertical posts with intricate designs on top. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

The evolution of railing and grille designs

1d | Habitat
A Russian army service member fires a howitzer during drills at the Kuzminsky range in the southern Rostov region, Russia January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov/File Photo

3 months of Ukraine war : Miscalculations, resistance and redirected focus

1d | Analysis

More Videos from TBS

Poet Nazrul Islam’s 123rd birth anniversary observed

Poet Nazrul Islam’s 123rd birth anniversary observed

18m | Videos
Soaring commodity prices put pressure on budget

Soaring commodity prices put pressure on budget

4h | Videos
The alarming effects of the global food crisis

The alarming effects of the global food crisis

7h | Videos
Mangoes from Satkhira going to Iraq

Mangoes from Satkhira going to Iraq

9h | Videos

Most Read

1
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

2
A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Banking

Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

3
Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi
Bangladesh

Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi

4
BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies
Stocks

BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies

5
The reception is a volumetric box-shaped room that has two glass walls on both the front and back ends and the other two walls are adorned with interior plants, wood and aluminium screens. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Habitat

The United House: Living and working inside nature

6
Illustration: TBS
Banking

Let taka slide

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab