Macromiidae

The insect family Macromiidae contains the dragonfly species known as cruisers or skimmers. They tend to fly over bodies of water (and roads) straight down the middle. They are similar to Aeshnidae in size, but the eyes are green and just barely meet at the top of the head.

Macromiidae
Macromia illinoiensis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Infraorder:	Anisoptera
Superfamily:	Libelluloidea
Family:	Macromiidae Needham, 1903[1]
Genera
Didymops Rambur, 1842 Epophthalmia Burmeister, 1839 Macromia Rambur, 1842 Phyllomacromia Selys, 1878

Macromiidae, or Macromiinae, has been traditionally considered as a subfamily of Corduliidae (Kirby, 1890). It contains four genera and 125 species worldwide.

Females of this family lack an ovipositor at the end of the abdomen and lay their eggs by dipping the abdomen in the water as they fly over. Ovipositing is usually done without a male.

Early stages

The naiads hatch after two weeks and are born with three gills for respiration (Lung 2001).

Naiads are found in rivers, streams, and lakes where there is water movement. They crawl in debris at the water's bottom and wait for prey. They mostly eat mosquito larvae, freshwater shrimp, fish and tadpoles (Young 1955).^[2]

References

1. Needham, James G. (1903). "A Genealogic Study of Dragon-fly Wing Venation". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 26 (1331): 703-764 [750]. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.26-1331.703 – via Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.
2. Young, Frank N.; Westfall, Minter J. (1955). "Review of A Manual of the Dragonflies of North America (Anisoptera). (Including the Greater Antilles and the Provinces of the Mexican Border.), Minter J. Westfall, Jr". Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences. 18 (2): 125–127. ISSN 0015-3850. JSTOR 24313584.

• Chacon, Sheryl (2005). "Cruisers (Macromiidae)". Odes for Beginners. Archived from the original on January 27, 2007. Retrieved 2006-04-04.
• Lung, Mark; Sommer, Stefan (2001). "Macromiidae: The Cruisers". Dragonflies Index. Retrieved 2006-04-04.
• Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. "World Odonata List". OdonataCentral, University of Alabama.
• Dijkstra, K.D.B.; et al. (2013). "The classification and diversity of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata). In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013)". Zootaxa. 3703 (1): 36–45. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.9. hdl:10072/61365.

External links

• Images of Macromiidae