Red October

Recently I'd been lamenting how little time I've spent with the red dragonflies this year. Easily the least amount of time in the field with the Sympetrum dragonflies in ten years. In fact it seemed likely that I'd not see three of Minnesota's nine species: no Red-veined Meadowhawks, no Black Meadowhawks, no Saffron-winged Meadowhawks. And I nearly missed Variegated Meadowhawks as well, seeing no spring migrants, but two late season vagrants. However, today's outing to Lake Byllesby County Park near Cannon Falls helped to relieve these red dragonfly blues.

Each year this series of spring-fed ponds produces a stupendous number of Band-winged Meadowhawks. Visiting the site earlier this year and finding it completely dry, I had worried that the streak would come to an end, that this source population would disappear. By the time I'd crossed the green space between the parking lot and the trail head, a dozen or so Band-winged Meadowhawks had flown in front of me. The purpose of the visit today was to check on these dragonflies. They made it through the dry months just fine. The population was as strong as ever.

In addition to the multitudes of Band-winged Meadowhawks, there were a few White-faced Meadowhawks (how unusual for this species to be in the minority), a number of Autumn Meadowhawks, and dozens of Saffron-winged Meadowhawks. It was my first encounter with Saffron-winged Meadowhawks this year.

Saffron-winged Meadowhawks have the most distinct waist of all North American meadowhawks. As such they are a good example of what British entomologist Edward Newman had in mind when he coined the genus name “Sympetrum” in 1833. A footnote to the original description explains the origin of the word to be constructed of συμπιέζω and ητρον, the Greek verb for compress and the word for abdomen, referencing the narrowness of the abdomen sections 4 and 5. Unfortunately, this name gets mistranslated and misinterpreted because it would seem (if one didn't reference the original description) to be a construction of sym and petra, friend of stones.

Posted on October 5, 2017 04:10 AM by scottking