Never Kill These, They Love to Eat Texas Mosquitoes

One look at these, and your first thought may be to squish it but don't. These creepy-looking bugs are important to all of us, from Dallas, TX, to Delhart, and across the globe.

These bugs grow into mosquito-destroying machines.

If you don't recognize what they are, no sweat. They are dragonfly babies, or more appropriately, dragonfly larvae (nymphs). As larvae, these insects are aquatic with 6 legs, large eyes, and small wing buds on the back of the thorax. But once full-grown they dine on people-killers.

They have "gills located inside the rectum (unlike those of damselflies, which extend from the hind end like 3 leaflike tails). They breathe by drawing water in and out of their hind end," according to National Geographic. Pretty wild, right?

And best of all, dragonflies do a fantastic job keeping insect populations in check. More than 90 percent of their diet consists of those damn deadly mosquitoes.

The life cycle of a baby dragonfly?

Dragonflies have three stages in their life cycle, egg, larva, and adult, according to the Australian Museum.  Adult dragonflies, which we're much more familiar with, have a long and slender abdomen, four wings, and six legs. They also have very large eyes. And love to eat mosquitoes.

Something interesting about these insects is that researchers have found evidence that a dragonfly is capable of higher-level thought processes when hunting prey.

So keep that in mind the next time you come across one of these, don't squish it. One day it could grow into the adult dragonfly that saves you from a bloodsucking mosquito.