| Odonata Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Aeshna juncea hovering over a pond. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| (unranked): | Dicondylia |
| Subclass: | Pterygota |
| Division: | Palaeoptera |
| Superorder: | Odonatoptera |
| Order: | Odonata Fabricius, 1793 |
| Suborders | |
For extinct groups, see text | |
Odonata is an order of predatory flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies (as well as the Epiophlebia damsel-dragonflies). The two major groups are distinguished with dragonflies (Anisoptera) usually being bulkier with large compound eyes together and wings spread up or out at rest, while damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are usually more slender with eyes placed apart and wings folded together along body at rest. Adult odonates can land and perch, but rarely walk.
All odonates have aquatic larvae called naiads or nymphs, and all of them, larvae and adults, are carnivorous and are almost entirely insectivorous, although at the larval stage they will eat anything that they can overpower, including small fish, tadpoles, and even adult newts. The adults are superb aerial hunters and their legs are specialised for catching prey in flight.
Odonata in its narrow sense forms a subgroup of the broader Odonatoptera, which contains other dragonfly-like insects.