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Project Noah Nature School
Erythemis simplicicollis
The species is distinguished in that the female is bright green and the adult male has a blue abdomen with a green face and green and blue thorax.
Native to the eastern two-thirds of the United States and southern Ontario, Canada. Seen along a lakeshore.
Spotted on Apr 8, 2012
Submitted on Apr 10, 2012
5 Comments
Wow, that is really interesting. Would not have suspected that as this one was sitting so calmly!
That happens and I've done it myself....grin. Glad to be of help. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for eastern pondhawks. They're absolutely gorgeous, the males being a beautiful powder blue and the rest this brilliant green with the black chevrons on the tail. Aggressive too. I once watched a pondhawk hit a damselfly in mid-air with an audible snap and then drop the body onto the ground. Didn't even try to eat it. I suspect the pondhawk was just being territorial.
Most excellent.
Thanks again, Gordon! I was actually looking at that page; my error was in not scrolling all the way down and seeing that the female was different in color from the male. Teaches me to be more thorough (and to invest in a good insect guidebook now that I am beginning to take more insect photos).
This very well may be an eastern pondhawk, but check out the skimmer section at this page for more information or corroboration: http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/dragonflie...