New discoveries in 2017 (odonates)

There’s always more to discover/learn! My odonate-related new discoveries in 2017 are presented in reverse-chronological order.

Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly

10 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

A Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora filosa) was spotted at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prince William County, Virginia USA. This individual is one of several males spotted during a period of a week-or-so in mid-September 2017.

Immature male Calico Pennant

20 JUN 2017 | OBNWR | Calico Pennant (immature male)

A Calico Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis elisa) was spotted at Painted Turtle Pond, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prince William County, Virginia USA. This individual is an immature male. Notice its coloration is similar to female Calico Pennants.

Allegheny River Cruiser dragonfly

11 JUN 2017 | Fluvanna County, VA | Allegheny River Cruiser (male)

An Allegheny River Cruiser (Macromia alleghaniensis) was netted by Mike Blust at Hardware River Wildlife Management Area, Fluvanna County, Virginia USA. This individual is a male.

Harpoon Clubtail dragonfly

09 JUN 2017 | Highland County, VA | Harpoon Clubtail (male)

A Harpoon Clubtail dragonfly (Phanogomphus descriptus) was spotted at “Straight Fork,” Highland County, Virginia USA. This individual is a male. Sincere thanks to fellow Virginians Karen Kearney and Mike Boatwright for guiding me to this unique high-elevation habitat.

It’s worth noting that I saw two more new species during the same trip: Riffle Snaketail (Ophiogomphus carolus); and Dot-tailed Whiteface (Leucorrhinia intacta).

Those who know me well are familiar with one of many “Walterisms”: “I haven’t ‘seen’ something until I have photographed it.” My rationale is two-fold: 1) A photograph verifies a sighting. 2) The detail visible in a good photograph exceeds the acuity of the human eye. Suffice it to say I saw two other species but haven’t seen them. Makes sense to me!

Swift River Cruiser dragonfly

27 MAY 2017 | Riverbend Park | Swift River Cruiser (emergent) female

A Swift River Cruiser dragonfly (Macromia illinoiensis) was spotted at Riverbend Park, Fairfax County, Virginia USA. This individual is an emergent/teneral female.

Spine-crowned Clubtail dragonfly

03 MAY 2017 | HORP | Spine-crowned Clubtail (male)

A Spine-crowned Clubtail dragonfly (Hylogomphus abbreviatus) spotted along Bull Run at Hemlock Overlook Regional Park, Fairfax County, Virginia USA. This individual is a male. A female was spotted on the same day at a nearby location.

Epitheca cynosura exuvia

13 APR 2017 | Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) | exuvia (lateral)

A Common Baskettail dragonfly (Epitheca cynosura) exuvia was collected at Painted Turtle Pond, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prince William County, Virginia USA.

Epitheca princeps exuvia

05 MAR 2017 | Prince Baskettail (Epitheca princeps) | exuvia (face-head)

A Prince Baskettail dragonfly (Epitheca princeps) exuvia was collected from an unknown location. This specimen was on temporary loan from Huntley Meadows Park, Fairfax County, Virginia USA.

Copyright © 2017 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

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Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly redux (Part 2)

The same Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora filosa) was photographed while it perched on grasses located in two shady places along one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prince William County, Virginia USA.

This individual is a male, as indicated by his terminal appendages and prominent hamules.

Set 3

A busy background of thigh-high grasses made it challenging to find a pleasing composition.

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

Set 4

Photo Set 4 is my favorite, in terms of both quantity and quality. The dragonfly is shown perching on a grass stem that is estimated to be more than six feet high.

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

The next three photos are uncropped, that is, full-size images (4,000 x 3,000 pixels). This individual has a distinctive eye injury to the top of his left eye (facing forward) that enabled me to recognize the same male dragonfly is the subject in all four photo sets.

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

Did you notice the male Big Bluet damselfly (Enallagma durum) that photo-bombed the preceding image?

The last photo was cropped lightly in order to improve the composition, and Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 was used to remove a distracting element from the lower-right corner of the image.

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

Related Resources

• Fine-lined Emerald dragonflies (males)
• Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly redux (Part 1)

Copyright © 2017 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly redux (Part 1)

Several Fine-lined Emerald dragonflies (Somatochlora filosa) were spotted during a photowalk at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prince William County, Virginia USA.

The same dragonfly was photographed while it perched in several shady places along one of the trails at the park. In my limited experience, Somatochlora filosa seems to prefer perching on bare tree branches or long stems of wild grass. Part 1 features two photo sets showing Fine-lined Emerald resting on other types of perches; Part 2 will feature two more photo sets showing the dragonfly perching on grasses.

This individual is a male, as indicated by his terminal appendages and prominent hamules.

Set 1

The first photograph is a strong contender for my Odonart Portfolio. I like the way the green vegatation complements the dragonfly’s emerald colored eyes. Can anyone identify the type of plant on which the dragonfly is perching?

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

Post Update: Sincere thanks to Drew Chaney for identifying the green plant shown in the preceding photo. According to Drew, “It’s common evening-primrose, probably Oenothera biennis.”

Set 2

The second set of photos shows the dragonfly perching on a Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) seed pod.

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

The next photo was taken a step-or-so closer…

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

This individual has a distinctive eye injury to the top of his left eye (facing forward).

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

And after a few side steps, I was able to take a good ventral-lateral shot.

16 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

Editor’s Note: Sincere thanks to several members of the Capital Naturalist Facebook group for identifying the species of milkweed plant shown in photo Set 2. “Capital Naturalist” is administered by Alonso Abugattas, Natural Resources Manager, Arlington County Parks, Virginia.

Related Resources

• Fine-lined Emerald dragonflies (males)
• Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly redux (Part 2)

Copyright © 2017 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Fine-lined Emerald dragonflies (males)

Three Fine-lined Emerald dragonflies (Somatochlora filosa) were spotted during a long photowalk at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. All three individuals are males, as indicated by their terminal appendages and prominent hamules.

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. Source Credit: Sir Isaac Newton.

Sincere thanks to Jim Waggener, Wildlife Survey Coordinator for The Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, as well as other members of Jim’s survey group for sharing information that enabled me to find this rare to uncommon species of dragonfly. The group has surveyed four sites in Northern Virginia regularly for many years, including Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

No. 1

Fine-lined Emerald dragonflies seem to prefer perching on bare tree branches or long stems of wild grass, typically at chest- or head-height although not exclusively. For example, this guy was perched about waist-high on a cluster of fallen tree branches.

10 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

(See a full-size version of the original photo, without annotation.)

Fine-lined Emerald seems to prefer perching in sun rather than shade, unlike Mocha Emerald (Somatochlora linearis) — another species from the Family Corduliidae (Emeralds) found in Northern Virginia that prefers shady places.

The following ventral-lateral shot shows the lines on the thorax for which this species is named.

10 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

(See a full-size version of the original photo, without annotation.)

No. 2

The male shown in the next photo is perched on a long grass stem, about chest-high. He posed for two shots, patrolled back-and-forth a few times, and then disappeared.

10 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

No. 3

The last male was the most cooperative model. The first photo was taken at a distance of approximately six feet.

10 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

The next photo was taken a step-or-so closer…

10 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

And after a few side steps, I was able to take a good lateral shot.

10 SEP 2017 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Fine-lined Emerald (male)

The Backstory

This might be one of those stories in which the take-away is “persistence pays dividends.”

I made two trips to Occoquan Bay NWR during Fall 2016 when Fine-lined Emerald was my target species. On 21 September 2016, I spotted one or more dragonflies (species unknown) patrolling the treetops along one of the trails at OBNWR. I didn’t see any signs of Fine-lined Emerald on 25 October 2016, consistent with records for late-date maintained by Kevin Munroe (04 October for Northern Virginia) and Dr. Steven Roble (15 October for the Commonwealth of Virginia).

In retrospect, I realized I started searching too late in the year during 2016 so I started earlier in 2017. My first trip to OBNWR was on 30 August 2017; it turned out to be fruitless. I hit the jackpot on 10 September 2017! Fine-lined Emerald is a new species for my life list of dragonflies.

Rare to Uncommon

A distribution map of official records for Fine-lined Emerald helps to illustrate its classification as a rare to uncommon species of odonate.

DSA Distribution Viewer | Fine-lined Emerald (Somatochlora filosa)

Source Credit: Abbott, J.C. 2006-2017. OdonataCentral: An online resource for the distribution and identification of Odonata. Available at http://www.odonatacentral.org. (Accessed: September 14, 2017).

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

Related Resources

• Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly redux (Part 1)
• Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly redux (Part 2)

Copyright © 2017 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.