Whit Gibbons Anyone who has seen a dragonfly snare a horsefly for a meal knows what effective predators they are. My first thought upon seeing such an event is to be thankful that dragonflies do not reach the size of eagles, although stray dogs and cats would no longer be a problem. But dragonflies spend their first months in water as larvae called naiads.
Naiads are also serious predators.
Dragonfly naiads, which can be more than an inch in length, have enormous jaws with pincers on the front of the mouth and will eat a variety of small animals. Among the common prey of these creatures, which look like something on the set of a horror film, are tadpoles and larval salamanders. Research during the past year on the impact of dragonfly naiads on tadpoles has revealed some unexpected results. Predators use numerous tactics to capture their prey, which in turn develop defensive traits to avoid capture. Included are a variety of behavioral and morphological defense mechanisms, such as rabbits being able to outmaneuver bobcats or velvet ants having stingers that protect them from insect-eating predators.