Dragonflies are neither dragons nor flies but they are odonatian insects. These are so common during rainy season in our distt. Jind( Hariyana) that every one have to see them flying in sky over parks in city and over crop canopies in the villages. They are called as helicopters by the children in Haryana. Naughty and creative children used to catch them, tie a thread to their legs and enjoy them as game of kite flying. Our elders say that flying height of the dragonflies is an advance indicator of the intensity of the rains to come. They used to tell us that if dragonflies are flying very low near the ground then good chances for heavy rains in the area. Light rains or clouds will be there if these insects fly at medium height just above the crops. And their flights very high in the sky is a symbol of clear sky. In China and Japan these insects have generally been taken as symbol of courage & strength but in Europe and America except native tribes, these insects had often been taken as evils.
But hard fact at ground is that these dragonflies definitely do themselves the work of insecticides. They spend most of their time in the air for preying and mating.The dragonflies are general predators and hunts in groups. These natural insecticides in the form of dragonflies kills mosquitos, flies, moths, beetles, weevils and so many small insects. And so many of them are vegetarians causing losses to our crops in various proportions.
These dragonflies lay their eggs in water may be in ponds, lakes and crops like paddy. The nymphs known as naiads are also nonvegetarians and prey upon mosquito larva, plant hoppers and eggs of various insects available in water or near water level on plants. Myself had seen the dragonflies in the air preying upon chefer beetles, moths of paddy leaf folders and paddy stem borers. If our farmers stop using insecticides in the early stages of paddy and give a safe chance to these dragons for breeding in paddy feilds, the dragons can definitely help them in controlling leaf folder and stem borers at zero cost. And finally will help the society by reducing the poison in their food plates.
