Modern dragonflies have incredible aerobatic abilities - and they need them if they are to catch small manouverable prey in mid-air. Their secret lies in sophisticated wing design, but evolutionary aerodynamacists have found that it’s all been seen before.
Dragonfly wings consist of fine membranes, supported by complex networks of veins. In order to provide lift and control, the veins are arranged so that forces experienced during flight are spread over the wing, causing areas to automatically change shape - altering their aerodynamic properties to improve performance.
Fossils show that prehistoric dragonflies independently evolved similar ‘smart engineering’ aerofoil designs, according to Robin Wootten at the University of Exeter and his colleagues.
Models show, however, that dragonflies nowadays have superior capabilities - hovering, for instance, is a relatively new trick - perhaps due to pressure from ever improving prey species.
(Science, vol.282, p749-751)