Seaside Dragonlet - Erythrodiplax berenice

When in Connecticut we do most of our walk along Long Island Sound (Milford to Madison), rather than inland. In past  years we've spotted the small Seaside Dragonlet, Erythrodiplax berenice, but usually just the black male. This year, along the trail to Meig's Point at Hammonasset State Beach we saw a number of female Seaside Dragonlets, and were taken with their striking colors. Here's a "striped" female:

The brown wash at the mid-wing  apparently a clinal variation. Toward the end of the abdomen you can see the ovipositor, an extension of what is called the subgenital plate.

This view shows the brown wash a bit better:

The striped thorax and bright orange abdomen really stand out, but we learned that as the females age many of them will get quite dark, both on the thorax and abdomen, in the manner of the male. Here's a shot from late July 2012, at an East Haven salt marsh along Cosey Beach Avenue, showing a black female in tandem.

Males are usually easier to find, as they are the only small black dragonfly seen in seaside locations:

Another male:

And lastly:

Some taxonomy -

Family: Libelluidae - Skimmers and allies. Biggest dragonfly family, with 1,000+ species.

Genus: Erythrodiplax - Dragonlets. Large genus of mostly tropical new world skimmers, small to medium in size, with about 60 species. Only about 6 dragonlet species seen in the U.S.

Species: Erythrodiplax berenice - Seaside Dragonlet. They fly from mid-May to mid-September. Eat small insects and even small damselflies. Lay eggs only in salt water, even hypersaline alkaline lakes. Couldn't find any other U.S. dragonfly that oviposits in salt water.