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Dragonflies and butterflies with a lighter shade of color do better in warmer areas of Europe, according to a new study. 

The study also noted that changes in Europe's insect assemblages due to warming can already be seen in the dragonflies.

"When studying biodiversity, we lack general rules about why certain species occur where they do. With this research we've been able to show that butterfly and dragonfly species across Europe are distributed according to their ability to regulate heat through their colour variation," explained leading author Dirk Zeuss from Philipps-University Marburg in Germany, in the press release. 

Researchers, in the study, showed a clear pattern of light-colored insects dominating the warmer south of Europe and darker insects dominating the cooler north.

Insects such as lizards and snakes absorb energy from the sun to become mobile, hence darker the color they have, the more sunlight they can absorb. However, the researchers were surprised to find such a distinguished color pattern between the northern and southern species, since the surface colors also serve many other purposes such as camouflage, wrote RedOrbit.com.

"For two of the major groups of insects, we have now demonstrated a direct link between climate, insect color and habitat preference," said Carsten Rahbek, Director of the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen and professor at Imperial College London, in the press release.

The study further indicated that darker insects will shift their distribution and may be even retreat from certain areas.

"Until now we could only watch the massive changes in the insect fauna during the last 20 years. Now we have an idea of what could be a strong cause of the changes," said Stefan Brunzel, co-author from Philipps-University Marburg, in the press release. 

The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.