A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Have studied Ode distrs in midwest since 1969. Member Drgnfly Soc of the Ams- Past-President. Midwest Administrator for OdonataCentral.org.
Northwest Iowa
Sign In to follow
Yes, it is Libellula pulchella. One of the first odes I caught back in 1969!
Finding this species perched in grass is really unusual as they typically perch high in trees. The common name is pretty descriptive as they are not seen that often. While Riverine will patrol back and forth over riffle areas in rivers, Elusive will dive down to the riffles, grab something, and head back to the treetops. They are difficult to catch.
Eastern Pondhawk - Erythemis simpllicicollis mature male. The males change from green to blue as they mature. Only the eyes and face remain green.
Fyn nailed it. It is a male that isn't quite fully mature, still changing from green to blue.
Not a Blue Dasher. Not even a Libellulidae. Look at the eyes. They do not touch meaning this a Gomphid. Appears to be an Elusive Clubtail - Stylurus notatus. Here in western Iowa I often find this species with Stylurus amnicola - Riverine Clubtail.
Genus is Enallagma, but I can't tell you the species right off.
I tried to manipulate this photo, but couldn't bring out any detail, so this one remains a mystery.
Looks like it is a Libellulidae, but genus would just be a guess.
A. imperator is a european species.
Doesn't appear that there is no mating going on here - posture is all wrong. When dragonflies mate the male holds the female behind the head by claspers (cerci) at the tip of his abdomen. the female the bends her abdomen forward so the end of her abdomen come in contact with the males penis under the base of his abdomen.
This looks more like the top dragonfly is devouring the one underneath.
