Dragons & Damsels

I found this stunning little creature last Friday.  At first I thought it was a black butterfly, and fumbled with my camera to get a picture of it before it fluttered away. Much to my surprise, when I got home and put the pictures on the computer, I saw that this was a dragonfly.  Or so I thought.

Calopteryx maculata, resting on a poison ivy leaf.

When I researched a black-winged dragonfly, I was let to understand that this ebony beauty was really a damselfly.  Isn't that a great name?!  I picture a beautiful lady with sparkling, flowing scarves and a wind-billowed, shimmering dress standing on a castle rampart with her hair streaming behind her.

So what is the difference between a dragonfly and a damselfly?

Well, the biggest difference that I think would help a person identify them in the field is the way they hold their wings at rest.  Both dragonflies and damselflies have two pairs of wings.  However, a dragonfly will rest with his two pairs outstretched, and a damselfly holds hers upright, like a butterfly at rest.  (Hency my mistaken initial identification.)

Here is a dragonfly (below).  You can see how his wings are outstretched as he rests on the stalk of grass.

Libellula luctuosa, resting on tall grasses near a lake shore.

The damselfly (in the first photo) is an ebony jewelwing, and what an apt name.  It is lovely and shiny.  This one picture is a male.  The bodies of the males are more of a metallic green, and the females are more brown.  Their scientific name is Calopteryx maculata.  Calopteryx is from the Greek, meaning beautiful wing.  Maculata refers to the white spot the females have on the tips of their wings.

The dragonfly (second photo) is a male widow skimmer.  The males have white coloring at mid-wing, whereas the females do not.  His scientific name is Libellula luctuosa.  I had a hard time finding the etymology of Libellula, but it may be related to the Latin word for booklet.  Luctuosa has reference to mourning, and may be related to the black coloring on both the male and female.

Whitetail Dragonfly

This is a Common Whitetail Dragonfly, and it is a male.  The females don't have the white abdomens - theirs are brown.  Also the females have different bands on their wings.

The dusty white or frosted coloration reflects heat away from the body, and may act as a threat to other males.

This dragonfly is also called a Long-Tailed Skimmer.  Sadly, this fellow must not have skimmed quite fast enough, because you can see a big chunk of  his left, rear wing has been taken out by somebody.  They are preyed upon by fish, frogs, birds, turtles, bats, spiders, and even some wasps.

Clubtail Dragonfly

While camping on the Mississippi recently, this black and yellow visitor alighted on our picnic table one afternoon.  See how the tip of its abdomen is swollen?  This is an identifying feature of the Clubtail Dragonfly.

There are several kinds of Clubtail Dragonflies, but I believe this one to be a Plains Clubtail, which is the most common variety.

Check out those amazing legs, feet, and enormous eyes!  He looks like he's coming right at you!

The scientific order of insects which includes dragonflies and damselflies is called Odonata, which comes from the Greek word for tooth.  (They have teeth on their mandibles.)

The word Odonata is, of course, related to words like orthodontist, dandelion (from the French "dent-de-lion" which means lion's tooth), rodent (from the Latin, meaning "to gnaw") and even Dentyne (the brand name of a gum promoted as an aid to oral health, which combined portions of the words "dental" and "hygiene").