Mosquitoes are not just a trouble, they are vectors of deadly diseases such as malaria, dengue, Zika, and yellow fever, posing a major public health challenge across the globe. Among nature’s potential allies in controlling mosquito populations are dragonfly and damselfly naiads, the aquatic juvenile stages of these insects. Known for their voracious appetite, these naiads feed extensively on mosquito larvae, offering a promising, eco-friendly solution for mosquito management.
To understand the true scope of their impact, researchers have conducted numerous experiments evaluating how many mosquito larvae a single dragonfly or damselfly naiad can consume in a controlled setting. These studies measure “predation success” by tracking the number of larvae consumed over a given period. However, until now, the absence of a comprehensive synthesis made it difficult to draw broad conclusions about their overall effectiveness as biological control agents.
To bridge this gap, we compiled a robust global dataset, encompassing 485 individual measurements (effect sizes) from 31 experimental studies. Researchers has investigated the feeding behaviors of dragonfly and damselfly species. Exactly the number of 47 dragonfly and damselfly was tested for this survey. Research has done on larvae of nine mosquito species, including Aedes, Anopheles and Culex; the major vectors of a suite of mosquito-borne diseases. The research spanned 14 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Americas, where outbreaks of diseases such as Chikungunya, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, malaria, and Zika are most prevalent.
Researchers used this comprehensive database. Then they performed a meta-analysis to calculate the average number. Those number of mosquito larvae consumed by a single naiad per day. We also constructed an interaction network mapping predator-prey relationships between these insects and the mosquitoes, as well as the diseases mosquitoes transmit. This helped us visualize the broader ecological implications of these interactions.
The findings were striking. On average, a single dragonfly or a damselfly naiad consumed about 40 mosquito larvae per day. It consumed with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 20 to 60. This translates to an approximate 45% daily reduction in mosquito larvae populations in controlled environments. Importantly, these predation rates did not significantly differ between mosquito genera (Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex) or across their larval stages (I-IV), suggesting a broadly effective control potential.
These results strongly support the role of dragonfly and damselfly naiads as valuable natural agents in integrated mosquito control strategies. Encouraging their presence through habitat conservation or restoration could contribute to reducing mosquito-borne disease transmission, a strategy that is not only cost-effective but also environmentally sustainable.
