From muck to free flight, dragonflies flourish in warm conditions

There's one 'darn' insect this year that has benefited from Saskatchewan's mild, warm spring and summer.

No, it's not mosquitos. 

It's dragonflies — specifically 'darner' dragonflies, the variety with the long, pointed bodies that resemble darning needles.

"We've had such a lovely, hot early spring and early summer so far. The waters, the sloughs and the ponds where the juveniles are living have warmed up quite quickly and that's allowed the juveniles to change into adults," explained entomologist Cedric Gillott.

In an interview on CBC Saskatchewan's the Morning Edition, Gillott noted that the swarms of dragonflies fluttering about this year are, in fact, three years old. They have spent the past two years hibernating in the muck at the bottom of water bodies. 

During their initial growth they do not require oxygen, he said. 

It's really a wonderful life.- Entomologist Cedric Gillott

"To come out as an adult in the third year, they have to reach a particular stage by a particular date. It's like climbing over a wall," he explained. 

"If they reach that stage by a particular time, they will literally climb out of the water, up a bulrush or some other emerging vegetation, and shed their skin, finally becoming one of these fantastic adults," the entomologist said.

If the spring is too cold for the omnivorous insects — because temperature controls their growth rates — "they can just stay down there and take another summer in the water and come out the following summer," Gillott explained. 

By that point, when the dragonflies do emerge, they go out with a bang, spending the summer eating and procreating. 

"Yes it's really a wonderful life," Gillott said with a laugh. 

After six to eight weeks of eating, they become sexually mature, and then start mating. Females lay their eggs in water bodies. 

Then they die and the cycle continues with the larvae, which will emerge three years later.