A newly published research has suggested that a dragonfly could be termed as the most prolific long-distance traveler that covers thousands of miles crossing oceans when it migrates from one continent to another.

Rutgers University-Newark (RU-N) biologists, who led the study, said that the proof is in the genes. The study has been published in the journal PLOS ONE.

The research team discovered population of a dragonfly species known as Pantala flavescens, in areas as far apart as Texas, Korea, eastern Canada, India, Japan, and South America. They have similar genetic profile in these regions which hint at intermingling of species.

Apparently these insects have been traveling distances that are extremely long for their tiny size, breeding and forming a common gene pool across the world that wouldn’t be possible if they didn’t intermingle.

Senior study author Jessica Ware, an assistant professor of biology on the faculty of RU-N's College of Arts and Sciences, said that it is the first time ever that anyone has taken a closer look at the genes for ascertaining how far the insects have traveled.

Ware said, “If North American Pantala only bred with North American Pantala, and Japanese Pantala only bred with Japanese Pantala, we would expect to see that in genetic results that differed from each other. We don't see that, it suggests mixing of genes across vast geographic expanses”.

They aren’t huge birds or whales that could be expected to travel thousands of miles. Ware said that it seems like that this is the way their bodies have evolved.

Dragonflies have adaptations, including bigger surface areas over their wings, enabling them to use the wind for carrying them. They just stroke, stroke, stroke and thereafter glide over long distances, using minimal amounts of energy in doing so.