Flight season: mid-May to early August.
Population: common, found near marshes, ponds and small lakes.
Length: about 40 mm to 45 mm. Common Baskettails in this area have large dark basal patches on their hind wings,
however, they are best separated from similar Epitheca species by the cerci (males) or the subgenital plate (females).
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Tweed, Ontario, near a sand-bottomed woodland stream east of town along trans-Canada Trail:
small sand bottomed creek as well as some standing or slowly moving water in shady forested areas.
Sunlit open spaces are created by the trail. The lagoon is located not far to the north.
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Male Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura)
May 25, 2011
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Male Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura), claspers –
the cerci are plain and featureless (without teeth), and narrower toward the base
(May 25, 2011).
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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.
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Female Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) –
note the large basal patches on the hind wings,
also the female's appenadages are relatively widely spaced in this species
(June 03, 2011).
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East of Tweed, Ontario, along the trans-Canada Trail:
a clearing created by the trail, near a sand-bottomed woodland stream.
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Study of a female Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) –
the "T"-shaped mark on the frons is indistinct and the subgenital plates are thicker near their bases
(May 22, 2015).
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East of Tweed, Ontario, the north shore of Stoco Lake:
a gneiss outcrop with deciduous woodlands to the north, the lake to the south supports Pondweed, Water Lilies and other emergent vegetation.
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Teneral male Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) –
newly emerged, the abdomen and wings are still in the process of expanding to their adult dimensions
(May 20, 2015).
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