Samplings: November 2007

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Sympetrum dragonfly perches in a Hungarian cemetery.

Gyorgy Kriska

Dragonflies congregate at a cemetery in the Hungarian town of Kiskunhalas, perching on twigs and iron railings near polished black tombstones. It seems the insects mistake the horizontal surfaces of the stones for water, say Gábor Horváth of Eötvös University in Budapest and colleagues. Still water usually reflects polarized light in a specific pattern, and some water-loving insects use the pattern to locate puddles and ponds. As Horváth’s team discovered, reflections from horizontally oriented, polished black gravestones create the same pattern as water does. In several tests at the cemetery, the dragonflies—all members of the genus Sympetrum—showed no interest in matte dark objects or in polished light-colored stones, neither of which reflect polarized light in just the right way. Dragonflies mate near water and lay their eggs in it. Horváth’s team observed males and females at the cemetery flying in tandem over the black stones, sometimes touching them as if to deposit eggs. The researchers found no eggs on the graves, but the possibility remains that gravestones—and other dark, shiny horizontal surfaces where dragonflies sometimes gather, such as pools of oil and spiffy cars—can act as “ecological traps” for insects attracted to certain patterns of polarized light. (Freshwater Biology)