Category Archives: Dragonflies and Damselflies

Notes on an unidentified lestes found in yard on July 12, 2010

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I’m learning that identification of individuals in the genus lestes presents a bit of a challenge, and that some simply can’t be identified in the field. This young male that came to the yard last summer is a case in point.

Characteristics

  • Large (~2 inches long) damsel with wings held at 45° angle.
  • Male (accessory sex organ on S2)
  • Legs: Dark/black
  • S9: Blue
  • S8–S10: Swollen, whitish ventrally
  • Wings: Dark stigma bordered with white
  • Eyes: Brown, blue postocularly
  • Face: Looks brownish
  • Abdomen dorsal: S3–S6 Metallic greenish (aqua-marine sheen), S7–S8 brownish, S10 dark; white ventrally, dark band at base of segments
  • Cerci: Hard to see what shape they are in photo taken from above, but they are clearly visible.

Amber-winged was suggested as a possibility, but I’m not sure:

  • Pro: Coloration of S3-S6 (aqua-marine sheen); dark band at base of abdominal segments; abdomen white ventrally; pruinosity on S9; fairly robust appearance
  • Con: Clearly visible cerci; lack of blue bands on lateral thorax of what apparently is NOT a mature individual; pruinosity ONLY on S9

Here are some photos, the quality of which isn’t good enough to do more than provide certainty about genus:

Sightings in brief, 7.27.2010

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Damsels and dragons

Around 2:00 this afternoon while working on a project, I glanced at the window of my second-floor office and saw a tiny odonate hovering outside looking in. The abdomen was very slender, and the creature had the delicate appearance of a damselfly. Face, thorax, and abdomen all looked yellow-orange. I looked closely at the thorax and face thinking it might be a Citrine, but those parts of the body were the same color, or close to the same color, as the abdomen. I didn’t notice black on the segments, but there might have been some. The tip of the abdomen was slightly clubbed and looked slightly more intensely colored than the rest.

Butterflies

My first yard Pearl Crescent and a Tiger Swallowtail (yellow form) were flying in the garden. The swallowtail nectared on the several Swamp Milkweed plants.

Yesterday’s (7.23.2010) yard

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Last night roughly 40 Chimney Swifts were flying over 11th Street, a nice sight!

Dragons and Damsels

On the 21st and the 23rd there was a dragonfly in the yard that I’m almost certain is a teneral Blue Dasher, but one feature perplexes me: a shimmery, red cast in the wing in some light.

I’m too new at dragonflies to make the kind of knee-jerk identification I made of a Common Whitetail—I didn’t look closely enough to be sure it wasn’t a Widow Skimmer. Sigh. I’m learning.

Also in the yard were two Fragile Forktails and a bluet.

Spiders

There was what looked like a sheetweaver web in the Golden Alexander, but no sign of the spiders.

More yard odonates

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There was another hard-to-identify (for me) damsel in the yard yesterday evening. It and a Fragile Forktail seemed to be settling in for the night in the patch of switchgrass in the northeast corner of the backyard. I’m guessing that it was a Familiar Bluet. According to Rosche, Semroc, and Gilbert (Dragonflies and Damselflies of Northeast Ohio, 2nd ed.),

The dorsal surface of the female’s abdomen is mostly black. The segment joints at the bases of S3–S8 are nearly ringed with pale coloration. These rings, coupled with the pale areas of the lateral surface, usually give the impression of dark, torpedo-like designs.

This damselfly has the pale rings, and on S7 a perfect torpedo is visible (although not so much so in the thumbnail).

  • Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile)—I think · July 14, 2010 · Backyard

Because of unwellness and resulting lack of sleep last night, I wasn’t up until 7:30 this morning and missed my usual early prowl around the garden. It was already 82° when I got up and 100° around 30 minutes ago—unpleasant.