Comments on: Clubtail Dragonfly

By: Tim Eisele

Tim Eisele — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:46:05 +0000

Amy: Nice find! As for what to do with it, well, anything you like, I guess. Dragonfly colors unfortunately tend to fade after they die, but if you want to preserve it, you could always get one of the small Riker mounts from Bioquip that is just big enough for that one dragonfly.

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:40:05 +0000

The strangest thing just happened. I was sitting down and happened to look down and in between my feet laid a dead dragon fly intact. I Googled “Dead Dragonfly” because I thought perhaps I’d heard a myth in the past….anyways the Dragonfly is the exact one you have pictured here. What should I do with it?

By: Tim Eisele

Tim Eisele — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:55:52 +0000

I think you are right, Carl, if it isn’t that species it is probably one of the other Gomphus species. One would naively think that insects as colorfully pattered as dragonflies would be easy to identify to species, but I guess it isn’t that simple.

And KT: It looks like you just gave the 500th comment on this site! Well, if you don’t count the 5,817 spam “comments” that have been ditched so far, it is. I’ve got some more dragonfly and damselfly pictures coming for you, including a dragonfly nymph cued up for this week.

By: K T Cat

K T Cat — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:42:50 +0000

I think that dragonflies are the coolest insects around. I love the colors, the shapes, the flying habits, everything. I’d give a great deal to go back and see some of the prehistoric ones, the ones that were several feet long. Imagine what they ate!

Great post and great photography again.

By: Carl Strang

Carl Strang — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:42:34 +0000

Hi, Tim,
Check out the midland clubtail (Gomphus fraternus) as an alternative possibility. I like that Stokes guide, but for the diverse (and less commonly encountered) clubtails they made the reasonable editorial choice of leaving most of them out. I’m not absolutely positive about the midland, as your photos show a little more yellow in the tipmost abdominal segments than is typical for that species, but in my references that appears to be the best fit.
Regards,
Carl