Some male dragonflies have a waxy coat that keeps them cool while pursuing mates and may also help the insects shrug off a warming climate.
U.S. dragonfly species that produce the special wax are faring better in the face of ever-hotter and drier conditions compared with their waxless counterparts. This suggests the wax acts as a buffer against climate change, researchers report February 26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The wax gives some dragonflies a kind of “ecological superpower” for being able to use an expanded range of habitats, says Michael Moore, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Colorado Denver.
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