Ruby runner bog plant
The flight of EJs is often described as “butterfly-like.”ĮJ males have a stunning Kelly-green metallic head, thorax and abdomen, and the females’ colors are more muted.ĭonald Stokes, in his wonderful Observing Insect Lives, reports that males are territorial. If she gets any closer, they hop to another perch. In her experience, they like to maintain a personal space that puts them just a shade farther away than her camera can focus reliably. Several sources testified about their approachability and the BugLady laughed a lot. Their main flight season is in June and July but a few hang around into September. They are said to be the most common damselfly in North America. Ebony JewelwingsĮbony Jewelwings ( Calopteryx maculata) (beautiful wing with a spot) prefer streams in dappled woods east of the Rockies.
Ruby runner bog plant full#
Broad-winged damselflies overwinter as naiads, and full grown naiads are about an inch long by the time they are ready to emerge as adults the next summer. Their naiads, which are well camouflaged but not agile, move little and are found on vegetation under water. Males guard but are not in contact with their ladies during egg laying. Black-winged damselflies) and American Rubyspots lay their eggs in the stems of submerged plants or in decaying wood in waters with a moderate current. They are eaten by a host of bugs, bats and birds, as well as by some fish, frogs and turtles.Įbony Jewelwings (a.k.a. Like all Odonates, they are carnivores, both in their aquatic nurseries and as airborne adults, eating whatever small, soft-bodied invertebrates they can catch (and the young-naiads-love the equally aquatic mosquito larvae). They are perchers-sitting on plants or rocks and sallying forth to hunt or to defend their territories.
Rubyspots seldom gain more than a foot or two in altitude, but the BugLady has seen jewelwings six feet off the ground. Other Odonates may hunt far from streams and ponds, but the Broad-winged damselflies tend to be homebodies. Like dragonflies and other damselflies, Rubyspots and Jewelwings are tied to the water-in this case, running water. They come in metallic colors, with the males showier than the females, which sport a white spot ( stigma) toward the tips of their wings. There are eight species of Broad-winged damselflies in the U.S., and four of those are listed for Wisconsin at the Odonata Survey site-the River and Ebony Jewelwings, and the American and Smoky Rubyspots (the Smoky Rubyspot is recorded from only one county in the extreme southern part of the state).īroad-winged damselflies get their name from the base of their wings, which taper gradually instead of looking “stalked.” When they sit, they hold their wings together vertically over the top of their abdomen. Once again, the BugLady would like to recommend Damselflies of the North Woods by Bob DuBois, the Beginner’s Guide to Dragonflies, by Nikula, Sones, Stokes and Stokes, and the on-line Wisconsin Odonata Survey. The stars of today’s show are big (close to 2”), beautiful, unmistakable members of the third damselfly family, the Broad-winged damselflies (family Calopterygidae). Sharp-eyed BugFans probably noticed that identification of the species in these two families is not exactly a slam-dunk. Recent episodes of BOTW have featured two families of the ethereal damselflies that grace our wetlands-the Spreadwings (family Lestidae) and the Pond damsels-forktails, sprites, dancers and bluets (family Coenagrionidae).