Researchers discover what is on the menu for dragonflies

Researchers from the Universities of Turku and Helsinki, Finland, have discovered the prey species of adult dragonflies and damselflies, as modern laboratory techniques enabled the study of the insects’ diet. In the study, prey DNA was extracted from tiny dragonfly droppings and the researchers managed to identify dozens of prey species from the samples. The results shed light on dragonflies’ position in natural food webs with an unprecedented specificity.