50 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.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Dragonflies belong to which insect order, shared with damselflies?
Odonata
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
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
They are classified into 348 genera and 11 families, and most live in the tropics.
Q 04An adult dragonfly's compound eye contains nearly how many facets (ommatidia)?
24,000
The eyes meet on top of the head in most families and give complete vision of the frontal hemisphere; there are three simple ocelli too.
Q 05At rest, how does a dragonfly hold its wings, unlike a damselfly?
Flat and out from the body
Damselflies fold theirs along or above the abdomen and have a weaker, fluttery flight and widely separated eyes.
Q 06What is the immature aquatic stage of a dragonfly called?
A nymph or naiad
In some species it lasts up to five years, far longer than the adult's 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 male transfers sperm to secondary genitalia at the front of his abdomen before mating, a system found almost nowhere else in insects.
Q 09Giant 'griffenflies' with 75 cm wingspans lived in which period, 325 million years ago?
Carboniferous
They were only distant relatives; true dragonflies 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
The Commentry shales were worked by mining engineer Henri Fayol, who passed the fossils to palaeoentomologist Charles Brongniart.
Q 11One hypothesis for Meganeura's giant size links it to high levels of what in the ancient atmosphere?
Oxygen
The idea is contradicted by giant griffenflies persisting into the Late Permian after oxygen dropped, so the absence of other aerial predators is another suspect.
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
Old claims of 97 km/h for the southern giant darner are unreliable; cruising speed is about 16 km/h.
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
They also accelerate at 4 g in a straight line thanks to a very high power-to-weight ratio.
In an enclosure study, dragonflies caught up to what share of the fruit flies they pursued?
They are absent from Iceland too, apart from strays blown in on the wind, and the treeline emerald in 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
Pantala flavescens is also called the wandering glider; on Rapa Nui it has a black-winged form.
Q 15Pantala flavescens makes an annual multigenerational migration covering roughly how far?
18,000 km
Individuals fly more than 6,000 km of it, one of the longest journeys of any insect; Amur falcons crossing the Indian Ocean may snack on them en route.
Q 16Dragonfly legs are used for perching and grabbing prey but not for what?
Walking
Males have a row of spines on each front leg modified into an 'eyebrush' for cleaning the compound eye.
Q 17A dragonfly nymph catches prey by shooting out which extendable mouthpart, sometimes called a mask?
The labium
It 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
The empty nymph skin left behind is the exuvia; a waxy blue 'pruinosity' on some 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.
95%
Success rose with prey density; erratic prey flight was the main way a fly escaped.
Q 25Dragonflies use which technique, also used by fighter pilots, when closing on prey or rivals?
Motion camouflage
By keeping a fixed bearing to the target it appears not to move, only to grow larger.
Q 26What rapid vibration do some large dragonflies use to warm their flight muscles before dawn?
Wing-whirring
Migratory darners do it to get an early start; the obelisk posture, by contrast, 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
The Libellulidae, or skimmers, favour still water; the burrowing clubtail nymphs breathe through a snorkel-like tube while buried in mud.
Q 29Which large migratory dragonfly is the official state insect of Washington?
Green darner
Anax junius travels from the northern United States to Texas and Mexico and is the best-studied North American migrant.
Q 30Anax imperator, the largest dragonfly across most of Europe including Britain, is known as what?
The emperor
Also called the blue emperor, its range has pushed north and uphill since the 1990s.