General: Damselfly (Suborder Zygoptera) are small, flying creatures often seen zooming and hovering around streams and pools of water or in the grass around the edges of water bodies. What we see as damselflies, however, are the generally short-lived, adult, breeding life stage of the organism. The more numerous and longer lived life stage is the aquatic larvae, which are voracious predators on other small water bugs and things like mosquito larvae. There are some good places for Watching Damselflies Around Las Vegas.

These tiny creatures are completely harmless to humans, but they are voracious predators of small flying insects such as flies and mosquitoes, and the larvae are predators on small aquatic insects such as mosquito larvae.

Damselflies mating (photo above). The pair has formed a "mating wheel" where the male (blue) grasps the female (gray) by her neck and she reaches up with her tail to receive his genetic material. Google "copulation wheel" or "mating wheel" for details.

Damselfly eggs are laid in water, and the aquatic nymphs that hatch are predators on zooplankton, mosquito larvae, and other small creatures. Nymphs "breath" using gills, which are the three, feather-like plumes at the end of the abdomen.