Darners
Family Aeshnidae
Genus Aeshna
Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta)



Similar species – possibly Canada Darner (Aeshna canadensis), Green-striped Darner (Aeshna verticalis), Lake Darner (Aeshna eremita) and Black-tipped Darner (Aeshna tuberculifera).


Flight season: mid-June to late October.

Population: common at local marshes, this darner may be found in large numbers in fields with tall grasses and wildflowers that are near its breeding habitat. Although they will fly high when feeding they more often prefer to hunt for prey at about waist height among the vegetation.

Length: about 65 mm to 70 mm.


Tweed, Ontario, about ½ km west of town, a marsh bordering the trans-Canada Trail: typical local marsh with Cattails, sedges and other emergent vegetation, various small willows, alders, dogwoods and some Tamarack.
Male Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta) and a lateral view of its spatulate "lance-tipped" cerci (August 17, 2010).



Tweed, Ontario: a male Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta) found in a residential area, presumably stunned by a collision with a vehicle. After being photographed it was released in a secluded place to recuperate (September 01, 2009).
Views of the claspers of the male depicted above, compare these cerci to the cerci of the Shadow Darner. The lateral aspect appears similar in both species but they look very different in dorsal view (September 01, 2009).



Tweed, Ontario, near intersection of the trans-Canada Trail and River Street: trees and shrubs to the north side of the trail, a moist meadow supporting wildflowers to the south.
Female Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta)
August 29, 2008


Border of the Tweed Soccer Field: a meadow bordered by tall grasses and wildflowers, with a woodland stream to the east.
A green female Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta) – green and yellow color forms occur more commonly in Lance-tipped Darner females than other local Aeshna species. However, the majority of the females are similar in color (blue) and patterning to the males. (August 20, 2014).


West of Tweed, Ontario, a high and dry field bordering the trans-Canada Trail: a dry field with sandy soil, drought tolerant grasses and wildflowers, Sweetfern, and Rubus spp.
Images of a more typical blue form female Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta) – annotated with pointers on how to separate this dragonfly from female Black-tipped Darners, followed by images of the leaf-like appendages. Note the pointed tips on the appendages and the fairly prominent styli, and unlike males, the females have no blue spots on S10 (August 06, 2014).



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Green female Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta)
August 18, 2014

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Yellow female Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta)
August 18, 2014
Yellow female Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta) – this species does not have a facial cross-stripe (August 18, 2014).