Another Andromorphic Female

Over the past year during my lunch hours, I've walked the grounds at my workplace in Farmington Hills, MI, tallying the various plants and animals. The route back to the building is an enclosed walkway and is quite the collector of various bugs since they get trapped in the glass panels. Each panel is surrounded by a frame that protrudes a few inches and many insects can't determine how to navigate from the enclosure.


Thus, I walk along and pluck out the variety of individuals which gives me a chance for further identifications and release from their "deathtrap". I've found many species in this walkway that I haven't found "out in the field".

On June 28th, 2011, I picked up an Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis) expecting it to be a male based on the coloration, but quickly realized it was a female. In this photo, the ovipositor is visible:


... and a view of the dorsal surface of the abdomen:


Amazingly, this is the second time I've seen an andromorphic female. Here's a link to the account of our first sighting.

There are always interesting things to find... even in an industrial park of metro Detroit.

Tagged Monarch Recovered!

Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) are not dragonflies, but they are fascinating insects. These migratory butterflies have an incredible life cycle, which can be found at the Monarch Watch website.

Since the eastern population of this species winters in Mexico, it takes a couple generations to make it to the northern US.
We don't see greater numbers in southeast Michigan until mid-summer, although the first individuals make it to our area as early as mid-May. Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) doesn't get large until June, with flowering later in the month. This plant is one of the common host plants for the butterfly eggs and larvae. A generation or two may be produced in the northern US and southern Canada.


In our yard, we offer several host plants including: Common Milkweed, Butterfly Weed (A. tuberosa), Whorled Milkweed (A. verticillata), Swamp Milkweed (A. incarnata), and Tropical Milkweed (A. curassavica). Unlike the others, the latter is non-native and not hardy here, but we pick some up and grow it as an annual if we see it at a nursery. In any given year, we may have 10 to 30 caterpillars. We remove many and raise them in a small tent or enclosure for protection from predators or injury.


In late summer and fall, adults begin the couple thousand mile migration south towards the wintering grounds in Michoacan, Mexico.

Since the mid-1990s, I have tagged southbound migrating Monarchs. Some years I only find a few individuals and other years several dozen are tagged. The organization Monarch Watch sells the adhesive, paper tags which have unique ID numbers printed on them. On the right is a Monarch we tagged in our yard a couple years ago.

Earlier this year on a whim, I checked the tag recovery database. To my surprise, there was a recovery of one of my tags! LHA926 was a male we caught on 27 Aug 2008 in our yard in Dearborn. On 3 March 2009, this individual was recovered by Javier Martinez in Sierra Chincua, Michoacan, Mexico. (near N19 36 23 W100 14 30 ) The distance between the two locations is 1,858 miles (in a straight line).

This is the location of one of the Monarch santuaries, west of Mexico City. A detailed look at the sanctuary is here, at the web site of the Monarch Butterfly Fund, one of the partners (Monarch Watch is another) of the Monarch Joint Venture.

One never knows when data will be most useful. Some years we've tagged several dozen, but 2008 was one of the fall seasons when we didn't find many Monarchs. A total of only 12 were tagged, 2 were reared in our yard and the remainder were from multiple locations in SE MI. It's incredible that one of the twelve was refound that winter.

I'd encourage others to order tags from Monarch Watch since the fall migration season isn't far away.

Dragonhunter in Wayne County!

On July 3, 2011, we went to Fish Hatchery Park in Northville, MI. This was the location of the first federal fish hatchery as noted previously. Our hopes were to capture Black-shouldered Spinyleg (Dromogomphus spinosus) since this was the location we observed a male in 2010.


Upon arrival a large clubtail flew from one of the many perches along Johnson Creek that were bathed in sunlight. Initial thought was spinylegs, but it was big and the abdomen was curled in a distinctive J-shape. Once it landed the small head with green eyes were obvious: Dragonhunter (Hagenius brevistylus)! This was a species we didn't expect to see this day, but we had always had hopes to find one.

Now to catch an individual...vouchers are required for first county records in Michigan. Unfortunately, subsequent visits over the past few days haven't turned up the spinylegs or Dragonhunter.

Spring Mill Pond area - revisited

I took a partial vacation day to revisit Island Lake SRA on June 13, 2011 in hopes of confirming a new species or two for Livingston County. It was a windy and partly cloudy afternoon, but the area around Spring Mill Pond has the large sand dunes which provide areas of shelter.

Unfortunately, the southeast portion which had the Painted Skimmers (Libellula semifasciata) was fairly windy and all I found were Four-spotted Skimmers (Libellula quadrimaculata). Here is a male:


More than 90% of the bluets I examined were Marsh Bluets (Enallagma ebrium), such as this male:


If you click on the photo, the forked cerci are visible which is a diagnostic field mark for this species.

At one of the "stream" crossings, a male Unicorn Clubtail (Arigomphus villosipes) was found perching on the gravelly edges:



Finally making it to the vicinity of the saddlebags (Tramea sp.) sightings from a couple weeks earlier, I had little hope of finding much since it was quite breezy. Given the large amount of rain in recent times, the location southwest of the parking area was flooded. This helped make the hunt for odes a bit easier since they seemed to be gathered near the little "islands" of vegetation. Within minutes, a male Carolina Saddlebags (T. carolina) flew by and went with the wind. I thought that may be my only sighting, but it ended up circling back to one of the little islands and perched on a small snag. Soon after another male Carolina Saddlebags perched on an adjacent plant. Here is the confirmation of this species for the county, which shows the purplish frons and the black coming down the sides of S8 and S9:


I then followed the flow of water to a little pond which had a patrolling Prince Baskettail (Epitheca princeps). Nearby, perched on a branch over the water was a male Lancet Clubtail (Gomphus exilis):



A second Lancet Clubtail was found a few meters down the shoreline.


Finishing up the visit, I had decided to check the shoreline of Spring Mill Pond itself. Before arriving at the edge, a Springtime Darner (Basiaeschna janata) flew past and landed in vegetation on the hillside. As I approached, it lifted off and flew away, not giving a chance for a photo or further observation. Returning to the pond, I found another patrolling darner so I positioned myself between cattails and came up with this male Springtime Darner (B. janata):


What a way to end a day!

Given the diversity of this area, I have to wonder what other species will be found in the coming visits.

A confirmation & reconfirmation for Wayne County

Looking to fill in gaps of the Wayne County, Michigan, odonata list, I had decided to visit Crosswinds Marsh, phase I, on June 11, 2011.

There is a nice loop (Blue Heron Trail) that hits a variety of habitats that I was visiting last fall and I was hoping for a missing early season darner or a Spangled Skimmer. No luck for either, but one does have to get into the field to have a chance.

Surprisingly, there were a large number of Aurora Damselflies (Chromagrion conditum), a species we do not see often. Many were coupled:

Here's a closeup of a male showing the yellow area of the thorax:

Hanging out on a culvert for Disbrow Drain was this male Unicorn Clubtail (Arigomphus villosipes):


I find this species very difficult to catch, unless one lands directly in front of the net. Thus, the digiscoped image through my binoculars is the best I can provide.

Pleased with the population of Aurora Damselflies discovered, I was hiking back towards the car and paused at the Mallard Trail boardwalk. A smallish, dark ode flew by that had brilliant, green eyes. Initial thought was baskettail (Epitheca sp.), but the body was looking solidly black and the eyes were like emeralds. Eureka!

I called Julie to tell her of the interesting sighting, and she also asked if it was a baskettail. Just then, the dragonfly flew back near me. Ending the call quickly, I was able to swing the net and capture the individual. It was a male emerald (Family Corduliidae), but I have little experience with any species other than Mocha (Somatochlora linearis). We just don't have bog or fen habitats in our home county.

Identification would have to wait until I returned home and we reviewed our references.
Examining the wing venation and the claspers confirmed the species as Racket-tailed Emerald (Dorocordulia libera). This is the first confirmed record of this species for the county!


Interestingly, Julie thought she had seen an emerald in the same area ~10 years ago, but dismissed it as a baskettail. There was a literature record from the 1870s, but this was to be removed from the county list since there is not voucher available and the records from that time period can be quite confusing. Sometimes locations of "Detroit" in the historical records seem to be related to the ship's port of call (typical transportation in that era), rather than the actual sighting or voucher location.

Anxious for Julie to see a live individual, we returned on June 19. A half hour or more was spent in the area of the original sighting with no luck. (Although, I thought I had an individual fly by at one point.) We slowly worked our way to the western boardwalk, while I tried to flush odes from the adjacent vegetation. We did see our first Halloween Pennants (Celithemis eponina) and Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera) of the year. I pushed farther into the vegetation and flushed a couple female Slaty Skimmers (Libellula incesta), when a coupled pair of smaller, dark dragonflies flew in and perched in front of me. Racket-tailed Emeralds! Julie came over quickly with her good camera and was able to observe and photograph these cooperative individuals.

Mission accomplished and we have confirmation these are breeding in the vicinity. Julie once again has to revise her manuscript on Wayne County species, which she is hoping to submit for publication in the next couple of months.