A Springtime Darner dragonfly (Basiaeschna janata) was spotted on 15 April 2016 at Huntley Meadows Park. This individual is a female, as indicated by her terminal appendages. Thanks to Michael Moore, member of the “Southeastern Odes” Facebook group, for verifying my tentative identification of the gender.
Female Springtime Darners are polymorphic: the spots on their abdomen are either blue (andromorphic) or green (heteromorphic); this female is a blue morph.
I thought of an analogy to explain the size of the Springtime Darner population at Huntley Meadows Park: Springtime Darners are more like Shadow Darners than Common Green Darners; you see Shadow Darners sometimes but not all the time, like the appropriately named Common Green Darners. Although Springtime Darners are rare at the park, it’s worth the effort to find these beauties!
Interesting factoid: Basiaeschna is a monotypic genus; Springtime Darner (Basiaeschna janata) is the only member of the genus in the world. Uncommon and unique. How cool is that?
Related Resource: Teamwork, and some take-aways (my photoblog post describing the exciting discovery of another new species of odonate at Huntley Meadows Park)
Copyright © 2016 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
Tags: andromorph, Barnyard Run, Basiaeschna janata, female, Huntley Meadows Park, polymorphic, Springtime Darner dragonfly, terminal appendages, wetlands, wildlife photography
walter sanford's photoblog 
May 1, 2016 at 4:06 am |
[…] Michael Powell and I were searching for the elusive Springtime Darner dragonfly (Basiaeschna janata) during a photowalk at Huntley Meadows Park on 15 April 2016. (By the way, we found one later the same day!) […]
May 6, 2017 at 4:01 am |
[…] can stop hunting for this species. Huh? I saw one Springtime Darner in 2015 (my first) and another one in 2016, both females. Apparently, Mother Nature allows me to see one and only one Springtime Darner per […]
September 11, 2017 at 4:11 am |
[…] 15 APR 2016 | HMP | Springtime Darner (female, blue andromorph) […]