Tiny dragonfly travels 4,400 miles between continents when migrating

• News & Highlights

Now THAT's a long-distance relationship! Tiny dragonfly travels a staggering 4,400 miles across continents in search of a mate Many couples live towns and countries apart and have to travel long distances to spend time with each other. But their journeys pale into insignificance to the mating voyages of the tiny globe skimmer dragonfly. Genetic analysis has revealed that the dragonfly, officially known as Pantala flavescens, covers more distance than any other insect, as well as many migrating birds and whales. In fact, it crosses entire continents - making a trip believed to stretch 4,400 miles (6,440km) - in the search for love. Scientists at Rutgers University in the USA studied the genetic variation in Pantala dragonflies, that measure just an inch and a half long, from locations in North America, South America, and Asia – and found there was none. Populations as far apart as Texas, eastern Canada, Japan, Korea, India, and South America were found to have genetic profiles so similar that they must have bred with each other. 'If North American Pantala only bred with North American Pantala, and Japanese only with Japanese, we would see genetic results that differed from each other,' said Jessica Ware, assistant professor of biology at Rutgers. 'We don't see that. This suggests the mixing of genes across vast geographic expanses.' Professor Ware believes that moisture must be the key driver of these perilous trips, with dragonflies embarking on what she calls a 'kind of suicide mission' in search of places to mate.