Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) are insects with an incomplete metamorphosis (hemimetabolous). The aquatic larva or nymph hatches from an egg, and develops through eight to seventeen instars before leaving the water and emerging as the winged adult or imago.[1]
- ^ Suhling, F.; Sahlén, G.; Gorb, S.; Kalkman, V.J.; Dijkstra, K-D.B.; van Tol, J. (2015). "Order Odonata". In Thorp, J.; Rogers, D.C. (eds.). Ecology and General Biology: Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates (4th ed.). Academic Press. pp. 893–932. ISBN 9780123850263.