Head to head
Dragonfly vs Damselfly
Dragonflies and damselflies together make up the order Odonata, ancient hunting insects with aquatic young. They share the same basic body plan and life cycle, and both hawk small insects near fresh water, but a few features separate them reliably once you know what to look for.
| Dragonfly | Damselfly | |
|---|---|---|
| Suborder | Anisoptera | Zygoptera |
| Build | Stout and robust | Slender and delicate |
| Wings at rest | Held out flat to the sides | Folded together along or above the body |
| Wing shape | Hind wing broader at the base than the fore wing | Fore and hind wings nearly identical, stalked |
| Eyes | Large, meeting or nearly meeting on top | Smaller, set well apart on the sides |
| Flight | Strong, fast, can hover and fly backwards | Weak and fluttering, low among plants |
| Larval gills | Internal rectal gills, also used for jet propulsion | Three external leaf-shaped gills at the tail |
| Species | About 3,000 | About 2,600 |
Dragonfly vs Damselfly: common questions
What is the single easiest way to tell a dragonfly from a damselfly?
Watch what it does with its wings when it lands. A dragonfly almost always perches with its wings held straight out to the sides, flat like an aircraft. A damselfly almost always perches with its wings closed and held together over its back or angled along the body. Backing that up, a dragonfly is chunky and a strong, darting flier, while a damselfly is thin, feeble in flight, and tends to drift about at low level in the reeds. If you get a close look at the head, a dragonfly's big eyes touch or nearly touch on top, whereas a damselfly's eyes are separated, one on each side of a wide head, giving it a hammerhead look. A very few damselfly groups, the spreadwings, rest with wings partly open, but the wing-position rule works for the great majority.
Are dragonflies and damselflies different insects or the same thing?
They are different but closely related, the two main branches of one insect order, Odonata. Think of it like the relationship between dogs and wolves within one family, or between moths and butterflies within one order. They share a great deal, including four wings, huge eyes, an aquatic larval stage that can last years, a hinged extendable jaw for catching prey, and the distinctive looped mating position. The split between them is old, going back over 250 million years, and each suborder has its own set of families. In everyday speech people sometimes use dragonfly loosely to cover both, but strictly a damselfly is not a kind of dragonfly.
Do dragonflies or damselflies bite or sting people?
Neither can sting, because neither has a sting. Neither is any threat to people, pets, or crops. A large dragonfly picked up and held carelessly can deliver a weak nip with its jaws that might just be felt but almost never breaks skin, and a damselfly is far too small and weak to do even that. Both are, if anything, useful to have around, since the adults eat mosquitoes, midges, and other biting flies out of the air, and the aquatic larvae eat mosquito larvae in the water. The old country names such as devil's darning needle and the belief that they sew up ears or lips are pure folklore.