Question: Aren't dragonflies similar colours, I mean I thought genes are meant to make you different, why is this?

Emperor Dragonfly answered on 8 Dec 2017:

Good question – of course Emperor Dragonfly adult males are electric blue (and green and black, but mostly blue) – this because they really want to be seen (to scare off rival males, attract a female), and their prey has no chance to outrun them, as they are pretty much the fastest insectc in the sky…

The nymphs live in mud and by contrast are ambush predators – they hide in the mud (as they are a muddy brown colour) and then shoot out to grab passing prey (worms, other aqautic insect larvae, tadpoles and even small fish!).

So, I think you can see(!) that the colour of an organism is an adaptation to its lifestyle – the genes in a dragonfly nymph and an adult are the same, but expressed in different ways they make the nymph brilliantly camoflagued or the adult brilliantly flashy!

If you look at other species of dragonflies, while within a species there are usually two main colour schemes (one for males and one for females) there are species that are all colours of the rainbow… one of my favourites is the Banded Demoiselle – which not only has a cool name, is also gorgeous! (https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/banded-demoiselle)