Darners
Family Aeshnidae
Genus Rhionaeschna
Spatterdock Darner (Rhionaeschna mutata)



Flight season: late May to early July.

Population: vagrant, this darner is a resident of the Carolinian Zone in southwestern Ontario.

Length: about 75 mm.


East of Tweed, gniess outcrops bordering the trans-Canada Trail: gneiss outcrops with shallow pockets of soil supporting mosses, ferns, and wildflowers tolerant of shallow soil bordering the trans-Canada Trail, clearings supporting wildflowers, Staghorn Sumac, Lilacs and Rubus spp.
Female Spatterdock Darner (Rhionaeschna mutata) – captured as it was patrolling above the trail. The insect stood out like a sore thumb, as no other Aeshnidae flying at this season possess this combination of size, color and patterning. The Springtime Darner and the Canada Darner are nowhere near as large, the Cyrano Darner has a blue face and eyes but a very different silhouette (June 19, 2017).
In terms of size the Spatterdock Darner is about the length of a large Black-tipped Darner (which is not expected to fly for about another month). The lateral stripes are thin and relatively straight, with the anterior stripe having just a slight jog (June 19, 2017).
Details of the frons and face, the blue is even brighter in males. The face bears a brown cross-stripe. Also note that there are no dorsal thoracic or "shoulder" stripes (June 19, 2017).

Aspects of the terminalia – the appendages are long and rounded at the tips (June 19, 2017).