Well, they are GREAT predators, preying on smaller insects in both larval and adult forms. An adult dragonfly can eat it's own bodyweight of insects in half an hour. Now that's a good predator! Having just seen a whole field full of dragonflies living it up on the bumper crop of skeeters this wet spring brought us, I can certainly assert that they enjoy skeeters- the larvae are eaten by dragonfly larvae in their aquatic stage, & adults by adults. They can be a pest to beekeepers, as they don't discriminate and will eat
bees if they can catch them, too. Heck, they'll eat other dragonflies! Ferocious!
If you want dragonflies, you MUST have a
water source nearby. They simply won't show up if there isn't one, since more than half their lives is spent in or near water. They need it to reproduce, and prey is denser near a water source.
Dragonflies can also be eaten. It's a traditional food in some polynesian/asian cultures. (probably anywhere they're found and people are willing to eat alternate proteins.)
http://blog.nola.com/judywalker/2008/06/biting_back_fried_dragonfly_an.html Apparently they taste not unlike crab. Doesn't sound so bad....
