Dragonhunter
Hagenius brevistylus
44.6447, -85.7673
Field Notes
Description:
The largest North American clubtail, at 3.3 inches (84 mm), with black and yellow markings and green eyes. Males can be distinguished at a distance by their habit of curling their abdomens under while flying, forming a sideways J shape.
Habitat:
a clubtail dragonfly of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada.
The nymph is unusual, with a very flat, wide body. It is slow-moving and lives among bark and leaf litter at the edges of streams, where its dark color provides camouflage.
The adult feeds on large insects, including darner and clubtail dragonflies, sometimes ambushing them from above. It also takes Monarch butterflies, eating the thorax and abdomen first to avoid the greatest concentration of cardenolide toxins.
Notes:
We rescued this from the lake
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