Blue-tipped Dancer damselflies

Several Blue-tipped Dancer damselflies (Argia tibialis) were spotted at two nearby places with similar habitat: both locations are densely forested; one location is a small sandy stream with slow-to-medium current.

Blue-tipped Dancers are members of the Pond Damsels Family of damselflies. Male Blue-tipped Dancer damselflies look similar to male Orange Bluet damselflies, another species of Pond Damsel. A key field marker may be used to differentiate males of the two species: Blue-tipped Dancer is so-named because the tip of its abdomen is bluish-white; Orange Bluet has an orange-tipped abdomen.

26 June 2014 | Wickford Park/Dogue Creek | Young male

26 June 2014 | Wickford Park/Dogue Creek | Young male

All photos in this post were taken using my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150 superzoom camera (superseded by Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200). The preceding photos were shot using the built-in pop-up flash; flash was off for the following photos.

08 June 2012 | Huntley Meadows Park/Hike-Bike Trail | Male

08 June 2012 | Huntley Meadows Park/Hike-Bike Trail | Male

08 June 2012 | Huntley Meadows Park/Hike-Bike Trail | Male

Female Blue-tipped Dancer damselflies are polymorphic: a brown form (shown below); and a blue form (same pattern of markings).

08 June 2012 | Huntley Meadows Park/Hike-Bike Trail | Female

08 June 2012 | Huntley Meadows Park/Hike-Bike Trail | Female

08 June 2012 | Huntley Meadows Park/Hike-Bike Trail | Female

It’s possible the following individual may be a blue form female Blue-tipped Dancer damselfly. Although pop-up flash was used to take these photos, more power was necessary for good exposures in the dark shadows of the forest.

26 June 2014 | Wickford Park/Dogue Creek | Female

I consulted a couple of experts for confirmation of my tentative identification.

This one’s tough but I don’t think it’s a male Dusky [Dancer damselfly (Argia translata)]. Male Dusky can show a pale shoulder stripe when immature but I’ve not seen one with wide frontal ones. It could be a female, but the shape of the dark shoulder stripes and its coloration is not typical. I guess I lean towards a blue form female Blue-tipped although it’s tough to say if abdominal segment 10 is pale or not. The shape of the dark shoulder stripes aren’t perfect for Blue-tipped but not out of the realm of possibility. Source Credit: Mr. Ed Lam, author and illustrator of Damselflies of the Northeast.

That’s a tough one. If I had to guess I would say Blue-tipped Dancer. Lighting and angle are difficult, but sure looks like an Argia in any case. Source Credit: Mr. Chris Hobson, Natural Areas Zoologist with the Virginia Natural Heritage Program, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.

26 June 2014 | Wickford Park/Dogue Creek | Female

Blue-tipped Dancer damselflies love timberlands and Timberlands!

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Orange Bluet damselflies (males)

What’s orange and black but actually called a “bluet?” The Orange Bluet damselfly (Enallagma signatum), of course!

The word “bluet” refers to a type of damselfly rather than the color blue, specifically species of damselflies in the Genus Enallagma (American Bluets). Most bluets are primarily blue in color, as you might expect; three other smaller groups of bluets are mostly black, yellow-to-red, and mostly violet.

There are four families of damselflies in the United States of America. Three of five damselfly families occur in the mid-Atlantic region: Broad-wings; Spreadwings; and Pond Damsels. Pond Damsels is the largest family, including bluets, dancers, forktails, sprites, etc.

An Orange Bluet, shown above, was spotted alongside the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park on 12 September 2014. This individual is a male, as indicated by its coloration and terminal appendages. Females are green, adding to the color conundrum that is Orange Bluet!

Another male was spotted on 15 August 2014. The photo was taken using my Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera and 55-200mm zoom lens (88-320mm, 35mm equivalent).

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Eye contact

I like shots of dragonflies in which the subject strikes an unusual pose. I’m especially fond of head-tilts in which the individual seems to make direct eye contact. I wonder what the dragonfly is thinking when it looks at me through its compound eyes. On one hand, the amateur scientist in me guesses the dragonfly’s only thought is a simple decision tree: Is this thing predator or prey? On the other hand, the romantic in me thinks the two of us make a connection sometimes, and the dragonfly senses I’m a friend rather than a foe. Like the connection between this guy and me …

The preceding photograph shows an Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicicollis) perching on the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park on 10 September 2014. This individual is a male, as indicated by its coloration and terminal appendages.

Eastern Pondhawk is a species of dragonfly with prominent pseudopupils, giving the face a cartoon-like appearance sometimes. In this one-panel cartoon, the speech bubble would read …

Tech Tip: Apple “Preview” application was used to annotate the preceding photograph.

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (young male)

A Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) was photographed along the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park on 10 September 2014. This individual is a young adult male, as indicated by its partial pruinescence, distinctive pattern of wing spots, and terminal appendages. As a mature adult male dragonfly, its abdomen will be completely covered by white pruinescence.

Among dragonflies that exhibit sexual dimorphism, such as Twelve-spotted Skimmers, immature/young males and females are similar in appearance. The pattern of wing spots is a key field marker for identification of Twelve-spotted Skimmer males and females, in addition to differences in their terminal appendages.

The red berries, shown in the background, are the fruit of Swamp Rose (Rosa palustris); the green globes are the fruit of buttonbush (Cephalanthus sp.).

I love a good shot of a head-tilt!

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Year of the Frog

2015 is officially Virginia’s Year of the Frog!

… did you know that frogs are considered by many conservationists to be the most imperiled group of animals in the world? … Frogs are important natural resources that deserve our attention. Because of their aquatic and terrestrial life stages, frogs are excellent indicators of environmental health and water quality. Source Credit: Virginia is for Frogs.

The preceding American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is the unofficial poster girl for the year-long celebration. This frog is probably female, as indicated by the size of her tympanum: the eardrum is about the same size as the eye in females; it is larger than the eye in males.

It’s easy to tell males from females in both the Green Frog and the [American] Bullfrog. Males have a yellow throat, and the tympanum, the visible round external eardrum located behind the eye, is much larger than the eye. Females lack the yellow throat and the tympanum is about the same size as the eye. Source Credit: Ask a Naturalist.

Mid-February is too early for frog-spotting in the mid-Atlantic USA, so I used an image from my archive of unpublished photographs. This individual was observed alongside the boardwalk in the hemi-marsh at Huntley Meadows Park on 12 September 2014.

Editor’s Note: A Tweet by regular reader Charlie Bale inspired me to add a pull quote from Virginia is for Frogs, the featured Web site in this post. Feel free to add comments to my blog anytime, Charlie!

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonflies (males)

The following photos show two Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonflies (Libellula pulchella) perching alongside the boardwalk in the central wetland area at Huntley Meadows Park on 12 September 2014. These individuals are adult males, as indicated by their coloration and terminal appendages.

Male 1

Male 2

Related Resources: Digital Dragonflies, presenting high-resolution digital scans of living dragonflies.

• Genus Libellula | Libellula pulchella | Twelve-spotted Skimmer | male | top view
• Genus Libellula | Libellula pulchella | Twelve-spotted Skimmer | male | side view

Eight-spotted Skimmer (Libellula forensis) is a similar looking species of dragonfly found in the western United States, but as I said in a recent post, similar is not the same. Contrast the wing spots nearest the wing tips for males of both species: notice those spots are white for Eight-spotted Skimmers; black for Twelve-spotted Skimmers.

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Florida Predatory Stink Bug

The Virginia Cooperative Extension Field Guide to Stink Bugs lists Florida Predatory Stink Bug (Euthyrhynchus floridanus) as a “beneficial species.”

The predatory stink bug, Euthyrhynchus floridanus (Linnaeus), is considered a beneficial insect because most of its prey consists of plant-damaging bugs, beetles, and caterpillars. It seldom plays more than a minor role in the natural control of insects in Florida, but its prey includes a number of economically important species. Source Credit: Florida Predatory Stink Bug, University of Florida.

Well, what do you know? Not all stink bugs are pests!

The Florida Predatory Stink Bug shown in the preceding photo was spotted on 04 November 2014 at Huntley Meadows Park. This is the only one I’ve seen at the park. I hope to see more — “beneficial species” are a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say!

Editor’s Notes: Thanks to BugGuide Facebook group members Scott Szafran Jr. and Roudolph Poodaluski for help in identifying this insect. See Roudolph’s excellent scientific illustration of a Florida Predatory Stink Bug.

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Great Spreadwing damselfly (male)

Sharing some love for the Great Spreadwing damselfly (Archilestes grandis) on Valentine’s Day — one look at those deep blue eyes and you’ll know why it was love at first sight!

17 October 2014

This individual — spotted near a vernal pool in the forest at Huntley Meadows Park — is a male, as indicated by its coloration and terminal appendages. Notice the male flexing his appendages in the following photo.

17 October 2014

Copyright © 2014 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Spider exoskeleton

A spider exoskeleton (after molting) was spotted during a photowalk along the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park. The exoskeleton is probably from a species of fishing spider, possibly a Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton). The smaller insects are water striders, possibly in the Family Veliidae.

26 September 2014

The following fishing spider was spotted for several days in the same location as the exoskeleton. It’s possible, perhaps probable, the exoskeleton formerly belonged to this individual.

15 September 2014

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Ashley Bradford, amateur naturalist/photographer extraordinaire, for identifying the spider exoskeleton and water striders.

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)

Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), shown below, is an invasive plant that was spotted during a photowalk along the boardwalk in the hemi-marsh at Huntley Meadows Park on 29 August 2014.

One mature plant can produce more than 2 million seeds annually. Seeds are easily dispersed by water and in mud adhered to aquatic wildlife, livestock and people. Source Credit: Purple Loosestrife, Ecology and Management of Invasive Plants Program, Cornell University.

Park staff members removed these plants soon after I photographed them. If you see this plant anywhere at the park, then please stop by the Visitor Center in order to notify a staff member of your sighting.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Kevin Munroe, Manager, Huntley Meadows Park, and Matt Ryan, Naturalist, for identifying the flowering plant shown in my photos. I knew the plant was one I’d never seen at the park; I didn’t know it’s an invasive species that spreads rapidly.

Copyright © 2015 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.