Tiny dragonfly may be world's longest distance flier

Washington: A small dragonfly found in several countries including India may be the animal world's most prolific long distance traveller- flying thousands of miles over oceans as it migrates across continents, scientists say. Scientists at the Rutgers University-Newark (RU-N) found that populations of this dragonfly, called Pantala flavescens, in locations as far apart as Texas, eastern Canada, Japan, Korea, India, and South America, have genetic profiles so similar that there is only one likely explanation.

These insects travel distances that are extraordinarily long for their small size, breeding with each other, and creating a common worldwide gene pool that would be impossible if they did not intermingle, researchers said. "This is the first time anyone has looked at genes to see how far these insects have travelled," said Jessica Ware, assistant professor of biology at RU-N.

"If North American Pantala only bred with North American Pantala, and Japanese Pantala only bred with Japanese Pantala, we would expect to see that in genetic results that differed from each other," said Ware. "Because we don't see that, it suggests the mixing of genes across vast geographic expanses.

These dragonflies have adaptations such as increased surface areas on their wings that enable them to use the wind to carry them," Ware said. Dragonflies, in fact, have already been observed crossing the Indian Ocean from Asia to Africa.