Dragonfly nymph feeding on mosquito larvae

[xTripleHeimer]

How did i end up here? I was watching like a bus :(

[Alex1421001]

EAT IT !! YES !!

[Agogaraxis]

at least its not a worm-like larvae, its got legs and everything, awesome it can live in water too.

[suicune690]

@Agogaraxis It's a nymph, since it has legs. All larvae are wormlike.

[SteffersFavourites]

Looks like it's attracted to movement.

[poltergiest11]

aaaaw so cute!

[IsArtanisAzn]

wow i was watching starcraft vids to this

[wyccad690]

well I do not see anymore misquito larvae but the dragonflies won't die for some reason, oh well I would rather have them in my pool, after seeing this video it is good to know they will be keeping the misquito larvae under control.

[JMatrx]

@wyccad690

yep they'll keep mosquitos larvae under control, of course until dragonflies won't hatch :)

Depending from the species though, as far as I know, they may end up eating each other if food isn't enough. I've never had anymore nymphs in my pool, it's overcrowded of fishes and gambusia do the same work, even better :D

[Virginityrocks]

@JMatrx Mosquito populations are out of control where I live and the dragonfly numbers, although ample, aren't enough to control them. Please send your finest batch to my location so that I may toss them in the nearest swamp.

[wyccad690]

I just noticed my pool has dragonfly larvae, or nymphs as you say. I at first mistook them for some type of tadpole and only after capturing one and noticing legs did I do some research to figure out what they were. I have lots of dragonflies around the pool so it was the first guess I made. I recently shocked my pool a couple of times because it is empty and the recent rains have allowed water to build up, thus giving a breeding area for mosquitos.

[JMatrx]

@wyccad690 "nymph" is biologically used (at least the italian term "ninfa", maybe for anglo-american language it's simply "larvae") to name the larva stage of the dragonfly development :)

[natureman494]

how long did it take to get the shot

[JMatrx]

@natureman494

Not much, the first thing was capturing the Nynph from my pond (it was near the surface and its yellow colors could be noticed easily; probably was there for moulting, which happened the next day I captured it).

Then I had some mosquito larvae, put them in and the nynph instantly started to eat and actively chase them. These things are voracius and fast killers.

[gummybrain]

Hooray for dragonflies! They eat lots of pests, so they're always welcome around my apartment.

[Snakecharmer95]

i hate mosquito larva cause i have like a little stream in my front yard in the ditch when it fills with water there are alot of mosquito larva. what i do us i take a cup get as many as i can in the cup and dump them on the ground.

[FirstCollier]

@Snakecharmer95 a better idea would be to boil them.

[ITSTHETINGLE]

can you buy nymphs ? i want one

[Tyranitar635]

I always caught em myself as a child. just get a net and run it through ponds with lots of plants.

[DemonDrug95]

what do they eat? they looked cool

[DemonDrug95]

erm..i got a question today i found a black dragonfly nymph in my aquarium is it dangerous for the baby shrimps?

[JMatrx]

It depends how big are the little shrimps, but I'd say "yes of course". In the days I filmed this dragonfly, It shared the aquarium with a gambusia (it's a fish) that was of similar dimensions.. And the dragofly kept attempting to attack it, so unless your little shrimps are twice as big, they are in danger.. try to move the dragonfly in another pond, don't kill it, dragonflies are useful they attack bad insects when adult.

[Mandy86lynn]

Those little black things with the long bodies that wiggle a lot, are they the dragonfly larvae or mosquito larvae?

[JMatrx]

Of course the little things that jiggle around are the mosquito larvae :)

[poisenmushrooms4u]

how do you take care them would you put them in an aquarium or what

[welcomegohome]

yeah go get those fuckers!! these don't do too well in captivity, i had a big one i found at a fish store, fed it tadpoles, it ate, then just died. my giant waterbug on the other hand i had for 8 months before releasing.

[Eddy34Mario]

Did anyone know that in britain near the end of summer by the water you see dragonflys? (not nymphs, adult dragonflys)

[CLOACAband]

i found one of these whilst draining the stagnant shite out the bottom of a swimming pool last year,it freaked me out!! took many a visitor to inform me what it was:) amazing vid btw!

[fallenangel9]

where do you find mosquito larvae? im going to do an experiment at school and i was wondering if one dragonfly nymph would significantly decrease the population of mosquito larvae?

[JMatrx]

Well, I don't know where you live, but try to put outside (in your garden), a small box with opaque borders and let it be for a couple of weeks. Mosquitos should lay their eggs; opaque borders allow growth of algae that larvae will feed on.

Finding a dragonfly nymph is much harder.. This nymph ate more than 30 larvae in less than 10 minutes..

However the female gambusia I confronted it with, (you don't see this in the video, but there was a gambusia together with this nynph) ate many more..

[fallenangel9]

Yea i live in New Zealand. I found about 20 of the dragonfly nymphs so no problem there. definately a large population in my friends pond. do you know whether they like to eat any other bugs? thanks.

[JMatrx]

It depends a lot from the specimen of the nymphs, but as far as I know they also feed on other insect larvae, crustacea, fishes, tadpoles.. They are really hungry and very aggressive, everything that is as big as them it's considered a prey, usually.

The one in the video tried several times to harm the gambusia female that was even bigger than the nymph!

[megastagbeetle]

it did cause it will survive on water so it has a good chance it will clib all the way up a stem and molt

[JMatrx]

Maybe it has happened, but i never found any remain. However it hardly could be attacked by my fishes, at the time they were not big enough.

[megastagbeetle]

damn how did u manage to find a larva of a dragonfly i want one >:( lucky

[JMatrx]

3 Years ago i decided to put up a small pond of water in my garden. I put some water in it, some plants and let it be like that for a week. Once i started to worry about mosquitos i've introduced my fishes.. some months later i found this larvae between the low waters near the plants i took it and filmed it. Seems like that a dragonfly saw a nice ambient without fishes and laid some eggs before me puttin in the fishes. After that i put it back in, but who knows if it became a dragonfly or died..

[IAmSonyFanBoy]

Yes! kill that fckin misquito! yes!

[TheSanityInspector]

Nice shootin', Tex!