Dainty-winged dragonflies that flit around Kansas gardens and ponds today are miniature descendants of huge ancestors with 2½-foot wingspans, fossils of which have been found in a ridge of rocks that pass through Marion and Harvey counties.

Author and retired engineer Roy Beckemeyer will unravel a complex story about these Goliath-like insects when he presents “Giant Dragonflies, Australia, and a Small Town in Kansas — Investigating a 1920s Mystery” at 7 p.m. Monday at Remington High School, 8850 NW Meadowlark Rd., Whitewater.

Beckemeyer will tell a story of how a small spot in central Kansas came to the attention of a renowned Australian paleontologist, how he came to visit, and how giant insect fossils, steamships, railroad trains, land grant colleges, long-lost photographs, and kidney stones were all part of the puzzle.

The talk is sponsored by Fredric Remington Area Historical Society.