Darners
Family Aeshnidae
Genus Aeshna
Green-striped Darner (Aeshna verticalis)



Similar species – Canada Darner (Aeshna canadensis), Lake Darner (Aeshna eremita), possibly Lance-tipped Darner (Aeshna constricta) and Black-tipped Darner (Aeshna tuberculifera).


Flight season: mid-July to throughout September.

Population: uncommon to rare, sole encounter with this species to date. Found near fens, ponds and small lakes.

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.
Green-striped Darner (Aeshna verticalis), wheel – the dragonflies were not captured and examined. However, in the opinion of a biologist at the NHIC and an expert at BugGuide.Net the following characteristics are sufficient to identify this mating pair as Green-striped Darners

– the thoracic stripes are green, with a prominent "flag" at the top of the anterior thoracic stripe
– the small dot between the thoracic stripes is absent (present in the Canada Darner)
– a deeply notched blue spot on male's S2
– the female's appendages are rounded
Photo by Jason King (August 24, 2014)


Tweed, Ontario: residential and business area.
Teneral male Green-striped Darner (Aeshna verticalis) – roadkill, note the wide "flag" at the top of the anterior thoracic stripe and cleft blue spot on S2 (July 19, 2015).

The upper surfaces of the cerci bear ridges but lack the distinct bumps present on the Canada Darner (July 19, 2015).

The hamular folds are flared wider than a Canada Darner's. The tips are at right angles to the dragonfly's body, pointing toward one another (July 19, 2015).


West of Tweed, Ontario, a high and dry field along the trans-Canada Trail: a dry field with sandy soil supporting short drought tolerant grasses, Sweetfern and Rubus spp.
Field marks of an immature male Green-striped Darner (Aeshna verticalis) – the dragonfly was struggling and acquiring images of the cerci and hamules would have taken a prohibitively long time and injured the insect. These features should be (and were) examined to ensure correct identification (July 20, 2015).


West of Tweed along the trans-Canada Trail: a marsh supporting Cattails, ferns and sedges, bordered by swampy woodland.
Male Green-striped Darner (Aeshna verticalis)
September 11, 2015