If you are looking for an insect to breed in your yard that will help to kill mosquitoes, you might want to get a mosquito hawk, or dragonfly colony.  Dragonflies, also called the mosquito hawk, are one of few predators that prey upon mosquitoes.  There are over 5,000 species of dragonflies, and they, like mosquitoes, usually live near water.

The dragonfly, or mosquito hawk, will lay eggs in mud, water or plant tissue.  Dragonflies have two stages of life after the egg hatches.  First they are aquatic nymphs, and then dragonflies become adults.  Fish and birds eat dragonflies, and the fish bait market has substantially reduced the dragonfly population.

As a predator, the mosquito hawk, or dragonfly, feeds on flying insects such as mosquitoes.  A dragonfly can eat up to 100 mosquitoes at one time!  Many researchers agree that farming and releasing dragonflies in densely mosquito populated areas may get rid of the bothersome biting mosquito more safely than by using harmful chemicals.  In other parts of the world, this technique has been used successfully to balance the ecosystem.