Prehistoric Dragonfly? Help please

I can't really help identify what you've all seen, but I live in the UK and i've seen some pretty big dragonflies (about 5") where i live in leeds (where I live is in the middle of a heavily populated town quite a walk away from any medows or fields). I always found this very strange because I thought they where fond of water and no one I know of on my street has a pond... So who knows!

By the way if anyone can inform me of why I've seen dragonflies more than once near my house (Bright blue/green, metallic colourd kind) i'd like to know. It was quite hot at the time and in the late 90's possibly early 00.

Originally posted by Blacksheep

DarkAlex- du know what RECONSTRUCTION means??

[edit on 11/1/07 by Blacksheep]

No. Tell me anyway.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
Maybe, but because of either a lack large enough trachea to process the o2, or trachea too large for the joints that connect the segments and limbs, that mutant woulld have died at birth or soon after.

The O2 problem only appears in extreme sizes, like those pre-historical dragonflies with some 50cm in lenght.

Today's longest insect was a Phobaeticus serratipes (walking-stick) with 55.5cm but including the extended legs in the measurements.

Titan beetles can fly and they measure around 15cm and they have a weight of 35 grams, so I think a 20cm long dragonfly is possible.

I too have seen a giant Dragonfly. About 3 weeks ago I was walking down to the shores of Lake Quilotoa in Ecuador, when suddenly a huge dragonfly flew almost vertically into the air, turned around at about 4 metres from my face making a big clicking sound and spun off into the distance. The abdomen was at least 25 centimetres. I am a birdwatcher, and this was no bird. Both my girlfriend and I are sure it was a dragonfly.

The oxygen theory only confuses me more.... Lake Quilotoa lies in an extinguished volcono at 4000 metres. www.volcano.si.edu...

Any suggestions?

Well this thread is an example of extreme synchronicity! I was discussing giant dragonflies last night!

I saw one when I was 17. It was a real living creature and since I was picking fruit on the tree it landed on at the time I know almost exactly how big it was because I grabbed a ruler from the shed nearby and checked at lunch time that day. It was 14 cm long. It buzzed in, landed, and flew off. I was so totally shocked I literally froze for a few seconds and then it was gone.

Big glittery red (brick red eyes), black thorax, fat, and the hump where its two sets of wings came from (the tectum? biology class is a long time ago) had hairs sticking up all over. It looked metallic like some bugs do.

Incredible synchronicity this topic showing up today. Wow.

reply to post by chris01621


that huge and colorful dragon fly supposedly flying above the pond is a balloon you can get from save ons or some other grocery stores....for kids ya know! like the spongebob ones....spongebob must die....

It would maybe make sense if you lived in New South Wales.
A rare species of Giant Dragonfly are native there. en.wikipedia.org...

Maybe it was somehow brought over to England?

www.youtube.com...
They look like that.

i had done some research on this actually- given certain environmental conditions in a hyperbaric chamber(oxygen levels, other gases, food sources etc.) can the given plan genetically develop differently or would the environmental conditions trigger new regulatory proteins or sequences which have not been able to be triggered.
we made the big dragon fly Anax imperator bigger like 7 inches more than twice the size in the chamber of course.
outside it promptly dies as the oxygen level was too low and the bug has no lungs (book or otherwise) to properly get oxygen to every where it needs.
but we made it pretty big.

if Tarantulas have book lungs i bet that some few dragonflies may have developed these somewhere and this would allow it to be the size of a large bird and it would be always hungry i imagine...flying is very taxing

it could happen. must be crazy to see and hear

reply to post by Mayacara



Forgive me if it sounds silly, but when I read your mention of the "buzz" I thought... could it have been a locust?

Are - or were at the time - they a common sight in Kent?
If they weren't, perhaps that could explain it.

I know the first locust I saw - up close, I mean (and sitting on the surface of the bathroom door, no less!) - freaked the bejesus out of me...!















[edit on 27-5-2008 by Vanitas]

reply to post by Mayacara

reply to post by Mayacara


I am going to have to agree with Mayacara, I have seen one of these things myself! In fact the only reason that I found this post was because I was arguing with my flatmate over the existence of these 'creatures'.

I was out with friends near Waltham Abbey, just outside of North London, Summer of 2011, maybe July August time of year, very, very hot day! Very sunny. This area is specifically a dragonfly reserve and hosts many rare and large breeds, I saw many varieties of every different color that day, more different varieties than I could count some as long as 120mm already! As well as some very rare breeds of butterfly and some very colorful black and purple moths!

Was just lying on the grass watching the clouds and saw a MASSIVE dragonfly buzzing overhead! The buzz was so loud I could hear it from 2 meters below as it whizzed overhead. First instinct was that it was a bird but as it went overhead I realized this was DEFINITELY a dragonfly, approx 200-220mm in length from tip to tail with a wingspan easily of the same if not more. All black with a hairy thorax bigger than my fist! Double set of all black wings that one would expect from a Darner or Emerald variety coming out from the top of the thorax that looked just as you would expect from any dragonfly but it looks no family of dragonfly I am familiar with due to the MASSIVE thorax and the slightly disproportionately short abdomen for a dragonfly, but a dragonfly nontheless.

Large breeds of dragonfly are definitely audible in mid-flight. I spent about 30 mins today interacting with a beautiful Blue Emperor dragonfly that was approx 70mm+ in length! It made a very distinctive buzzing sound when it came close, just like the giant dragonfly I encountered in Waltham!

I have spent hours today online trying to research what this breed is and seems that this has either not been undiscovered/classified yet or is a VERY rare breed that no-one has managed to photgraph yet. I am going to Waltham tomorrow to try and get some pics of dragonfly breeds there and will try and catch a snap of one of these!!!