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49 free Dragonfly trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Dragonflies are among the oldest flying insects and still the most accomplished. This quiz covers what makes them so good: compound eyes with nearly 24,000 facets, wings that beat independently so they can fly backwards and hover, acceleration of 9 g in a turn, and hunting success rates that shame any hawk. It also looks at the underwater years, when a nymph fires a hinged 'mask' at tadpoles and jets through the pond by squirting water from its backside. The second half ranges wider: how to tell a dragonfly from a damselfly, why the order is named after teeth, the Carboniferous giant Meganeura and its 70 cm wingspan, the globe skimmer's 18,000 km multigenerational migration, the green darner that is Washington's state insect, and dragonflies in Japanese poetry, Navajo symbolism, Art Nouveau jewellery and Indonesian frying pans. Folk names such as devil's darning needle and horse-stinger get their due. Every answer was verified against Wikipedia's articles on dragonflies, the Odonata and the species involved, and each question shows the sentence that supports it. Our Insects quiz goes wider if you want more.
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Q 01Dragonflies and damselflies together make up which order of predatory flying insects?
Odonata
Odonata covers dragonflies, damselflies and the Epiophlebia damsel-dragonflies; Diptera are the true flies, Neuroptera the lacewings and Ephemeroptera the mayflies.
Q 02The dragonfly infraorder Anisoptera means 'unequal wings' because of what?
Hindwings broader than forewings
Anisoptera means 'unequal wings' because a dragonfly's hindwings are broader at the base than its forewings; damselflies, the Zygoptera or 'paired wings', have fore and hind wings of similar shape.
Q 03Roughly how many species of dragonfly exist?
About 3,000
About 3,000 dragonfly species are known, classified into 348 genera and 11 families, most of them in the tropics.
Q 04An adult dragonfly's compound eye contains nearly how many facets (ommatidia)?
24,000
Each compound eye has nearly 24,000 ommatidia; in most families the eyes meet on top of the head and give complete vision of the frontal hemisphere, with three simple ocelli as well.
Q 05At rest, how does a dragonfly hold its wings, unlike a damselfly?
Flat and out from the body
Flat and out from the body; damselflies fold theirs along or above the abdomen, and also have widely separated eyes and a weaker, fluttery flight.
Q 06What is the immature aquatic stage of a dragonfly called?
A nymph or naiad
A nymph or naiad, and it hunts just like the adult; the underwater phase can last up to five years against a few weeks in the air.
Q 07How long is the adult stage for most dragonfly species?
About five weeks or less
A few live as long as ten weeks; the underwater nymph stage can last up to five years.
Q 08The mating posture in which the male grips the female's head and she curls her abdomen forward is called what?
The heart or wheel
The heart or wheel: the male grips the female's head with his claspers while she curls her abdomen forward to his secondary genitalia, which he charges with sperm beforehand, a system found almost nowhere else in insects.
Q 09Giant 'griffenflies', with wingspans up to 75 cm, first appeared in which geological period?
Carboniferous
Griffenflies first appeared in the Carboniferous, about 325 million years ago; they were only distant relatives of dragonflies, and true dragonflies (Anisoptera) did not appear until the Early Jurassic.
Q 10Fossils of the giant griffenfly Meganeura were first found in 1880 in coal measures in which country?
France
Meganeura was first found in 1880 in the Commentry coal measures of central France; mining engineer Henri Fayol passed the fossils to palaeoentomologist Charles Brongniart, who described them in 1885.
Q 11One hypothesis for Meganeura's giant size links it to high levels of what in the ancient atmosphere?
Oxygen
High Carboniferous oxygen levels, which would let tracheal breathing support a bigger body, are one hypothesis for Meganeura's size; the absence of other aerial predators is another, since griffenflies persisted into the Late Permian after oxygen fell.
Q 12Dragonflies belong to a group called Palaeoptera, meaning 'ancient-winged', because they cannot do what?
Fold their wings over their backs
Mayflies share the trait; most modern insects can tuck their wings flat over the back.
Q 13Which is the only continent with no dragonflies?
Antarctica
Q 21Large dragonflies such as hawkers reach top speeds of roughly what?
36-54 km/h
Large species such as hawkers reach 36-54 km/h; cruising speed is about 16 km/h, and old claims of 97 km/h for the southern giant darner are unreliable.
Q 22Dragonflies can fly about 100 body lengths per second forwards; how many backwards?
Three
Counter-stroking, with forewings 180 degrees out of phase with hindwings, powers hovering and slow flight.
Q 23Dragonflies have been recorded pulling how many g in a sharp turn while chasing prey?
9 g
Dragonflies have been measured pulling 9 g in sharp turns while chasing prey, and 4 g in straight-line acceleration, thanks to a very high power-to-weight ratio.
Antarctica alone has none; they are missing from Iceland too, apart from strays blown in, and the treeline emerald of Arctic Alaska is the most northerly species.
Q 14Which dragonfly is probably the most widespread, found on every continent in the warmer regions?
The globe skimmer
The globe skimmer, Pantala flavescens, also called the wandering glider, occurs in warmer regions of every continent except Antarctica; on Rapa Nui it has a black-winged form.
Q 15Pantala flavescens makes an annual multigenerational migration covering roughly how far?
18,000 km
The round trip spans roughly 18,000 km across generations, with individuals flying more than 6,000 km of it, one of the longest insect journeys; Amur falcons crossing the Indian Ocean may feed on them en route.
Q 16Dragonfly legs are used for perching and grabbing prey but not for what?
Walking
Dragonfly legs perch and grab prey but are not used for walking; a row of spines on each front leg, the 'eyebrush', is used to clean the compound eye.
Q 17A dragonfly nymph catches prey by shooting out which extendable mouthpart, sometimes called a mask?
The labium
The nymph's labium, a hinged lower lip folded under the head as a 'mask', is fired by hydraulic pressure from the abdominal muscles and takes mosquito larvae, tadpoles and small fish.
Q 18How can a dragonfly nymph move with sudden speed through a pond?
Jet propulsion from its rear end
The internal gills sit in a chamber in the abdomen; water pumped for breathing doubles as jet propulsion.
Q 19Freshly emerged adult dragonflies, still pale before their colours develop, are known as what?
Tenerals
Such soft, pale newcomers are tenerals; the empty nymph skin left behind is the exuvia. A waxy blue 'pruinosity' on some mature adults wears off during mating.
Q 20In how many directions can an adult dragonfly propel itself in flight?
Six
Up, down, forward, backward, left and right; the fore and hind wings can beat out of phase for hovering.
Q 24In an enclosure study, dragonflies caught up to what share of the fruit flies they pursued?
95%
In an enclosure study dragonflies caught up to 95% of the fruit flies they chased, one of the highest success rates recorded for any predator; erratic prey flight was the main way a fly escaped.
Q 25Dragonflies use which technique when closing on prey or rivals?
Motion camouflage
Motion camouflage: by holding a fixed bearing to the target the dragonfly appears not to move against the background, only to grow larger, until it is too late to react.
Q 26What do some large dragonflies do before dawn to warm their flight muscles?
Wing-whirring
Wing-whirring, a rapid shivering of the wings, warms the flight muscles; migratory darners do it before dawn to get an early start, while the obelisk posture is used to avoid overheating.
Q 27Dragonflies sometimes lay eggs on cars, gravestones and solar panels because these surfaces mimic water how?
They reflect polarised light
Shiny surfaces polarise light the way a pond does, and the insects gather to lay eggs on them.
Q 28Which family of dragonflies, the clubtails, prefers running water rather than still ponds?
Gomphidae
Gomphidae, the clubtails, favour rivers and streams; their nymphs burrow in sand or mud, some breathing through a snorkel-like tube, while the Libellulidae, or skimmers, favour still water.
Q 29Which large migratory dragonfly is the official state insect of Washington?
Green darner
The common green darner, Anax junius, became Washington's state insect in 1997; it migrates from the northern United States to Texas and Mexico and is the best-studied North American migrant.
Q 30One of Britain's largest dragonflies, a hawker with a blue abdomen, is named after which ruler?
The emperor
The emperor, Anax imperator, also called the blue emperor, is one of Britain's largest dragonflies; its range has pushed north and uphill since the 1990s.