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Black
Saddlebags Dragonfly
Order Odonata
(Fabricius, 1793) - dragonflies and damselflies /
Suborder Anisoptera Selys, 1854 -- dragonflies, libellules
Family Libellulidae -- common skimmers, libellulidés /
Species Tramea lacerata (Hagen, 1861)
Live adult male dragonfly photographed
in the wild, unposed, at Winfield IL USA.
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Black saddlebags refers to hindwing coloration
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The
black saddlebags dragonfly can be found almost everywhere in the United
States except in some extreme northern areas of the country. It ranges
south to Baja California and Mexico and is also found on Hawaii, the
Florida Keys, Bermuda and Cuba. It can be seen as far north as Quebec,
Ontario and British Columbia in Canada.
The black saddlebags'
hind wings are quite long and wide, with the eponymous iridescent black
bands. Besides these markings, the rest of the wing is clear. I consider
black saddlebags to be a rather large dragonfly (it's about 50mm long),
though not quite as large as the
green darner. The males are
predominately black, with deeper coloring than the females who are
larger, and possess a whitish-yellow spotted pattern on the dorsal side
of their abdomen (a trait shared by newborn males as well.) Females and
the young also have a lighter face, almost yellow in color, that
distinguishes them from the males. Both genders have black legs.
The black saddlebags glides through the air using its broadened hind
wings, thus feeding predominantly on small flying insects. When food is
amply available in a particular area, feeding swarms may be formed;
sometimes of only males, but never with just females. I rarely see this
dragonfly perching anywhere. I think this specimen may have been sick,
although it did disappear rather suddenly.
Link:
University of Michigan - Species
Account
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