Anax junius, locally known as the Green Darner Dragonfly, was designated the official insect of the state of Washington in 1997. (See http://www.americasflowers.com/kids/wakids.html for the other official symbols of Washington state, including the state bird, the state fruit, the state fish, and the state folk song).

As of December 4, 1999 there were 14,797 signatures on a petition to make A. junius the state insect of Michigan (http://members.aol.com/YESnetwk/Progress.html).

My question: is it uniquely American for a political jursidiction to have an official insect? And what role does an official insect actually play, other than to be designated?

By the way, of 124 pages on the web mentioning A. junius, I could only find two that told me what it might eat for dinner, which is what sent me looking in the first place.

--Bob