I came out into the garden here at Paluma this morning to see the largest dragonfly I’ve ever come across landing on a raised garden bed. Not only is it the biggest I’ve seen but wiki informs me it’s the largest I’m ever likely to see. By the time I got my camera it had moved on but I found this photo on wiki which ticked all the boxes. This beast is Petalura ingentissima aka the Giant Petaltail which wiki says has been described as the largest dragonfly in the world and found only here in the wet tropics of FNQ.
Its wingspan is around 160mm and body length about 125mm. The one I saw was at least this size. The larvae are unusual in that they live in burrows along river margins and hunt passing prey. Wiki asked for an author credit to “Summerdrought”. Only too happy to credit for such a good pic. Back in the carboniferous days dragonflies were VERY big …wingspan up to 75cm and weighing as much as a crow!
Text by Peter Cooke; Photo by “Summerdrought” courtesy of Wikipedia