As you might guess, the warm to hot climes of Florida make for good dragonfly variety. Bill Pranty's great book, "A Birder's Guide to Florida", lists 121 Dragonfly species, plus 47 Damselflies. Not only that, but his book also lists Florida's 166 Butterflies, 56 Amphibians, 123 Reptiles and 106 Mammals!
The Pennants include several dragonfly genera in the Skimmer family. Genus Celithemis, the Small Pennants, has 8 species found in the eastern U.S., while genus Brachymesia, the Tropical Pennants, has 3 U.S. species. The Metallic Pennants, genus Idiataphe, has only a single species, the Metallic Pennant of south Florida, and genus Macrodiplax has only the Marl Pennant, and some authorities don't place the marl pennants in the Skimmer family at all!
The Four-spotted Pennant, Brachymesia herbida, is common and widespread in our southern states, from SE Arizona over to Florida, and north along the east coast. It's a small slender skimmer that prefers open lakes, and it often perches on twigs. The male is dark, with a dark brown spot on each wing just past the mid-point, as well as pretty white stigmas. Taken at Lake Tarpon.
The female Four-spotted Pennant has less color in the wings, at least when young. Note how the black central line gets wider toward the rear (segments 7-9). This one from the Celery Fields on a hot day, when many of the pennants were staying cooler by pointing upward in the obelisk position.
No comments:
Post a Comment