The world's fastest insects

Dragonflies are capable of flying at least 30 mph, making them the world's fastest insects.

There are numerous kinds of dragonflies spread the world over. Fossil records date this insect back more than 300 million years, to before dinosaur times.

Shown here is a darner dragonfly, which rested on my rod tip during a moment of poor fishing. Darners are sometimes called "snake doctors." They have excellent eyesight with multiple eye facets allowing them to see in a nearly 360-degree field of vision.

They can be found near ponds, nervously darting about and lighting on a protruding object such as a dead stick, flying away, and suddenly reappearing on the same protrusion.

Darners can sometimes be seen in large numbers flying back and forth over newly mowed hay fields catching and eating small flying insects such as mosquitoes and gnats.

Through the Woods is a weekly nature photo column by Aaron Horrell. Find this column at semissourian.com to order a reprint of the photo. Find more work by him at the O'Tenem Gallery.