Page 14 - ARUBA TODAY

A14 LOCAL
Tuesday 10 december 2019

Dragonfly (Orthemis ferruginea)
Episode XLVII (47)

ORANJESTAD — Spirit or ghost of a goat, “Spirit`i Cabrito” in Papiamento
is the way Aruba has named their Libel or Dragonfly. They belong to the
order Odonata, a carnivorous insect’s family encompassing the dragon-
flies and the damselflies. The Odonata form a clade, which has existed
since the Permian era. Dragonflies are generally larger, and perch with
their wings held out to the sides; damselflies have slender bodies, and
hold their wings over the body at rest.

Everything related to dragonflies has The Odonatas have a mechanism to
always been surrounded by legends reduce predation on them like cam-
and myths. The reality is that they are ouflage, since they have colors, de-
harmless insects that have lived on sign patterns and postures that make
earth for 200 million years, before di- predators go unnoticed. When they
nosaurs and survived long after their are attacked, on their hangers during
extinction. cold mornings when they barely have
Dragonflies consume up to 300 mos- mobility, they can perform intimidat-
quitoes and other flying insects a day, ing movements with the legs and ab-
they are sometimes known as mos- domen that can deter the predator.
quito hawks. They are skilled experts, In Mexico as well as in Aruba they
no other animal has the ability to ma- are considered as a symbol of water
neuver the dragonfly’s wings, and its purity, and their presence predicts a
wings are bright and beautiful. good year of harvest. In Tahiti, drag-
While the Maya related them to the onflies are related to gods and spirits
sun, other cultures consider them sym- that bring fortune.
bols of fertility since females can lay In various populations of China, drag-
up to 100,000 eggs at once. Males onflies symbolize weakness and fra-
defend territories where the appro- gility, but they are also considered
priate conditions are found for laying beneficial and favorable in rice fields.
the eggs and where they are devel- In addition, they were used to make
oped correctly. Normally, these terri- mixtures with aphrodisiac powers. In
tories usually coincide with areas that Japan they are considered a sym-
have submerged aquatic vegetation bol of victory, happiness, strength
or areas that maintain water levels or and courage. Legend has it that Em-
currents that allow the oxygenation peror Yuryako Tenno was hunting on
of the eggs. Territoriality is a behav- a plain, and a horsefly landed on his
ior that will favor the selection of the arm and stung him. At that moment
most competitive males, which will a dragonfly appeared that got rid of
transmit their genes to the largest pos- the horsefly.
sible number of females. Continued on Page 15
2- Selective focus photo of gold and black dragonfly on brown stick.

1-Abstract Art by Etnia Nativa - “Spirit di cabrito” 3- Chinese dragonfly drawing