A dragonfly eats a bee-fly, a type of fly that looks like a bee and also pollinates flowers, after capturing it one day this summer. Scientists have discovered that dragonflies such as this one, a member of a common species known as pond hogs, play an unlikely role in connecting fish to flowers. That’s because fish eat dragonfly larvae, reducing adult dragonfly numbers, which increases the number of bee-flies and other pollinators – thus boosting flowering plant pollination, reproduction and growth.

(Mike McCoy/University of Florida)
View larger image. To request a print-quality image, email newsdesk@ufl.edu.
Return to: A new angle on flowers: fish are players in pollination