Nebraska Dragonflies and Damselflies

http://www.geocities.com/ne_odes/

Darners

Aeshnidae Family

Darners are long and slender-bodied with eyes that are very large and meet in a seam on top of the head. Females have ovipositors with blades. They are strong, fast flyers seen mostly in late summer. They feed mostly at twilight and spend much of the day hanging vertically from a perch, whether it is a vertical stem or a horizontal twig.

The Common Green Darner is the only representative of the genus Anax in Nebraska and is one of the most widespread of our dragonflies. The blue darners (genus Aeshna) have pale diagonal stripes on the sides of the thorax and pale spots on the abdominal segments. The male's abdominal appendages can be forked (Blue-eyed), paddle-shaped (Lance-tipped, Paddle-tailed, Shadow) or simple (California, Canada, Variable). Females may be hard to identify but are similar to males in pattern and may be marked with blue, green or yellow.