dragon-flies

[RenE J.V. Bertin]

janssens at botzoo.uct.ac.za wrote:
>In article <4179p3$ske at news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de> Michael Rossbroich <uzs5b3 at ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de> writes:
>>From: Michael Rossbroich <uzs5b3 at ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de>
>>Subject: dragon-flies
>>Date: 20 Aug 1995 12:28:19 GMT
>
>>My question is whether dragon-flies can sting?
>
>No, they cannot.

But they can _bite_, which they might do if you extremely harass them.

I have the following follow-up question.
My mother claims that while working "in" our little gardenpond,
she disturbed an apparently egg-laying female, which subsequently
seemed to attack her in a "dive-bombing" like way (much like some
birds try to chase other animals getting too close to a nest). I
should add that my mom was at that time removing extraneous leaves
from a waterlily, on which the fly was egg-laying.
I find it difficult to believe this, but then it _would_ make sense -
and most dragonflies seem large and capable enough to scare away at
least the smaller mammals and birds.
Any opinions/facts?

-- 
 RenE J. V. Bertin            http://WWW.NeurEt.biol.ruu.nl

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