dragonflies :]

[DogzRule1996]

there are so many dragonflies in our backyard right now. two big black ones and two big yellow ones and one blackish one thats smaller than the rest. it's a beautiful sight to see buddy and sam lying there together with the dragonflies flying back and forth it's unusual to see so many inTexas

[MPbandmom]

Dragonflies are cool.

[Fundog]

Aah, I love dragonflies.

[DogzRule1996]

haha i'm kind of scared to go outside when they're flying around im kind of scared that they might BITE me or attack me or something

[emmabeth]

They shouldnt do, you are a bit on the large side compared to their usual prey! They take other insects in flight, so unless you capture one and start poking your fingers in their mouth-parts, you are highly unlikely to get bitten.

Mind you, getting hit in the head by a low flying dragonfly stings a little - some of them are so big Im sure they need to inform Air Trafffic Control of their flight plans before take off!

[DogzRule1996]

You're right emmabeth, the ones in our yard were big, but they all flew pretty low. Just a few inches lower and our dogs would have been able to get them. Actually, if they had jumped they'd be able to get them easily. Why fly so low?

[emmabeth]

They probably fly whereever the insects they eat are - and depending on the weather and more importantly the humidity, that can vary.

They can also fly very low over water, both hunting and when mating and looking for somewhere to lay their eggs.

[DogzRule1996]

Oh, well now they've all left except for a big yellow one and this medium black one. I wonder if they're mating?

[emmabeth]

Are they uh.. stuck together? If so.. mating. If not... maybe thinking about it.... flying at one another angrily would be a territorial dispute which i think dragonflies can have..

Digressing slightly from dragonflies - do y'all have flying ants over in america... normal ants that at a certain time of year, grow wings and fly off to disperse and start new colonys of ants.

We have them, and for the first time ever.. I noticed that these flying ants would land (having mated seemingly during flight with their miniscule tiny male partners)... and once they got onto solid ground (NOT fences, table tops etc, but the ground proper)... their wings didnt just drop off over time or haphazardly... nono.

The ants would turn around and PULL their own wings right off!

Never seen it before... very odd, and cool.. and uh.... reveals me for the TOTAL geek i am!

[Leigha]

I think yes we do have those... but most of the only flying anty looking things we have where I live are termites. A few weeks after we moved into our house we were swarmed by termites. They apparently do the same thing--come up from the ground, fly off to find someplace new to live, first one to get to the ground and "start" the colony wins loses its wings and gets to be head termite. At least that's how the terminix guy explained it to me.

[wvvdiup1]

Does anyone have teal or torquise colored (that is green/blue or blue green color) bees in your area? I haven't seen them around here before that I can remember, so I'm wondering where they migrated from.

I'm also seeing mixed-breed bees here, too! I have bumble/wasps on the front of my house. Has anyone seen any? I know Karma loves chomping on bees, so they must be tasty!

[Leigha]

Nope, no green bees or monster hybrids.

[emmabeth]

Green bees? I want to seeeeeeee..... photos photos.

Bee x wasp hybrids - can't exist, for the same reasons that dog x cat or horse x cow - they may look similar but genetically they are too far apart to mate (and behaviourally too.. it wouldnt work).

However there are SO many types of wasp - more than you may imagine because those we commonly see and think 'ah... wasp' (or in my case ARRRRRGH WASSSSSSSP) are the Vespidae lot (your generic, yellow and black, waspy shaped thing).. but theres many many more, sawflies and anty-looking things too, wood wasps and parasitic wasps and wasps that hunt other insects and kill them and eat them..

A great many of these do not look much like the average yellow and black 'wasp' at all!

Bees on the other hand, are thought to have evolved from wasps... their specialism is pollination and they are better at this than any other insect, which is why on the whole bees are furry and wasps are not!

Some bees are 'cuckoo' bees - that is they sneak into other bees nests and lay their eggs there so the other bees do all the work raising their young. These bees tend (though not always) to look very very similar to the bees they are mimicking, which presumably means they can sneak right in without the other bees noticing.

If you see these bees you may well think 'oh ... tahts a bumble bee.... oh no hang on it doesnt look quite right' as most of them really do look 'a bit wrong' so it may be these you are seeing. Or its an unusual sort of wasp..

Wow, that was a loooooooong way of saying bees and wasps cannot cross breed....

[Leigha]

I am completely in awe of how much you know Emm.

[emmabeth]

dont be.... its er, in direct proportion to the amount of time i waste, idly looking up useless trivia when i ought to be doing something far more important! Everyone else has better things to do with their time!