Gray Petaltail dragonfly (female)

Eureka! I found one of my “Great White Whale” dragonfly species after years of fruitless searching.

30 MAY 2018 | Northern Virginia | Gray Petaltail (female)

A Gray Petaltail dragonfly (Tachopteryx thoreyi) was spotted at a forested seep, shown below. This individual is a female, as indicated by her rounded hind wings and terminal appendages. Thanks to Mike Boatwright for verifying my tentative identification of the gender.

23 MAY 2018 | Northern Virginia | forested seep

Gray Petaltail is classified as an uncommon species of odonate. It is a prized addition to my “life list” of dragonflies!

The following map shows all official records for Gray Petaltail in the United States of America.

DSA Distribution Viewer | Gray Petaltail

Source Credit: Abbott, J.C. 2006-2018. OdonataCentral: An online resource for the distribution and identification of Odonata. Available at http://www.odonatacentral.org. (Accessed: June 13, 2018).

Key: blue dots = Dot Map Project; green dots = Accepted records; yellow dots = Pending records.

Copyright © 2018 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Tags: Family Petaluridae (Petaltails), female, forest seep, Gray Petaltail dragonfly, habitat specialist, Tachopteryx thoreyi, terminal appendages