DSA Update No. 2: Northern Exposure

Coenagrion interrogatum (Subarctic Bluets) making more Subarctic Bluets

Nothing says I love you in the north like copulating Coenagrion interrogatum (Subarctic Bluets). I caught this pair in the act at the Gem Lakes area north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. But another group, even more audacious than this, was the highlight during an early excursion for the 2013 annual gathering of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas: Somatochlora, the genus we commonly call emeralds, the gems with metallic black-and-green bodies, the group that makes a dragonflyer’s heart pound.

We netted seven Somatochlora species yesterday. Somatochlora albicincta (Ringed Emerald), S. cingulata (Lake Emerald), S. franklini (Delicate Emerald), S. kennedyi (Kennedy’s Emerald), S. minor (Ocellated Emerald), S. walshii (Brush-tipped Emerald), and S. williamsoni (Williamson’s Emerald). Add a few northern darners to the list as well: Aeshna sitchensis (Zig-Zag Darner), A. juncea (Sedge Darner), and A. subarctica (Subarctic Darner). Not a bad opening day. Now we’re off again – today’s agenda includes Great Gray Owl and Northern Hawk-Owl. Yeah, we sometimes divert our gaze toward the lesser classes.

Somatochlora minor (Ocellated Darner) / © Bryan Pfeiffer

Aeshna juncea (Sedge Darner) / © Bryan Pfeiffer