Bug Wiki
Bug Wiki / All bugs / Dragonflies and damselflies
Sticker of Giant hawker
Bug card No. 0589 of 1,500

Giant hawker

Tetracanthagyna plagiata
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsDragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The giant hawker is the biggest dragonfly alive today. It has a black body with two pale yellow stripes on its chest, a long reddish brown tail and huge wings. It zooms along forest streams in Southeast Asia.

Lives in
Southeast Asia: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo, by forest streams
Length
10 cm (3.9 in)
Wingspan
13 to 16 cm (5.3 to 6.4 in)
Top speed
about 52 km/h (32 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It is big, but it cannot sting and only hunts insects.
What does it eat?
Like all dragonflies, it catches other flying insects in the air.
For real!Photo of Giant hawker
Picture by Unknown author Unknown author. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Giant hawker about 10 cm long (3.9 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)

How wide are its wings?

Giant hawker wings about 16 cm tip to tip (6.4 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)
as long as 3 toy building bricks in a rowabout as long as your handwings as wide as your handcould fly across a whole football pitch in 7.3 secondsmoves 140 times its own body length every second

How big is Giant hawker compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its wings can reach about 16 centimetres from tip to tip, wider than a grown-up's hand.

2

It is also the heaviest of all dragonflies and damselflies in the world.

3

Females are a little bigger than males and have brown patches near their wing tips.

4

The mother lays her eggs in soft, rotting logs covered in moss near streams.

5

Only one damselfly from Central and South America has slightly wider wings.

you asked

Most asked questions about Giant hawker

?What is the biggest dragonfly in the world?

The giant hawker. Its wings can be about 16 centimetres across and its body about 10 centimetres long.

?Is the giant hawker dangerous?

No. It cannot sting and it only hunts insects.

?Where does the giant hawker live?

In Southeast Asia, along streams in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Tetracanthagyna plagiata
Named by
Waterhouse, 1877
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Aeshnidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Aeshnidae
Lives on
Asia
Also known as
Gigantic riverhawker

Where the facts come from

  1. Tetracanthagyna plagiata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Unknown author Unknown author. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Dragonflies and damselflies

Emperor dragonflyDragonflies and damselfliesCommon whitetailDragonflies and damselfliesGreen darnerDragonflies and damselfliesEbony jewelwingDragonflies and damselfliesGlobe skimmerDragonflies and damselfliesBlue dasherDragonflies and damselflies

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores

Water louseWoodliceNew Zealand mud snailSnails, slugs and wormsGreat pond snailSnails, slugs and wormsCommon backswimmerTrue bugs and cicadasPetroleum flyFlies and mosquitoesBuzzer midgeFlies and mosquitoes