By PAUL HETZLER

Writing a nonfiction essay about damsels and dragons may sound like a contradiction in terms, or at the very least like a stale gender stereotype. But dragons are real, and while damsels are more slender and dress in brighter colors, they’re every bit as terrifying, every inch the airborne flesh-eaters that their chunky dragon cousins are.

If you’re out on a sunny and mild September day you may see large numbers of dragonflies and damselflies, shiny red or blue flying jewels darting about. It’s a treat to watch them snap up insects and, impressively, mate in mid-air.

Dragonflies and damselflies are carnivorous insects in the order Odonata. Dragonflies are in the sub-order Anisoptera, a term meaning not (an) the same (iso) wings (ptera). Their front pair of wings are longer than hind pair, which is one way to tell them from damselflies, which are in the sub-order Zygoptera in case you were wondering. There are an estimated 6.000 species in the world, and nearly 200 species have been identified in New York State.

As mentioned, damselflies tend to have slender abdomens. And though many dragonflies are colorful, damsels outshine them with their bright, iridescent metallic “paint jobs.” Dragonflies hold their wings out at rest, while damselflies fold them along their bodies. Damsels are sometimes called darning needles, and even the recognized species names like ’variable dancer’ are descriptive.

Both kinds of insects are beneficial in that they eat plenty of black flies, mosquitoes, deer flies and other biting insects. Not surprisingly, they breed in the same habitats as their prey. Damsels and dragons lay their eggs in the water or on vegetation along streams, rivers or ponds.

The nymphs, or immature stages, are monster-like with very little resemblance to the adult stage. You can get a sense of what their choppers look like if you watch the movie Alien. Seriously, under magnification you can see their primary jaws open to reveal a second or even third set of jaws (palps, technically). Depending on the species, the nymphs get pretty big—the family Tanytarsidae produce individuals as wide as the palm of your hand.

Damsels and dragons spend between one and three years underwater. Even as juveniles, they put a dent in the pest population, gobbling the soft grub-like larvae of deer flies, horse flies, mosquitoes and others. They shed, or molt, as many as 12 times as they grow.

They don’t pupate, but full-grown nymphs will crawl out of the water, anchor their toenails (tarsal claws) into the nearest piece of wood, and “unzip” their skin along their backs. Again, more amazing than any science-fiction film, a graceful dragon or damsel will crawl out of its monster-skin. After drying its new wings in the sun for a while, these killing machines fly off to eat pests. And to mate, of course, and then to die, as beautiful in death as the colorful leaves tumbling to the ground at the same time.

I hope you get to enjoy one or more “Indian summer” days this fall, and that you get to see dragons and damsels dancing among the falling leaves.

Paul Hetzler is a forester and Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County horticulture and natural resources educator.