Sweetflag Spreadwing
Lestes forcipatus Rambur, 1842
Sweetflag Spreadwing: https://marylandbiodiversity.com/species/35
Synonyms
Tags
S3 (Watch list)

Map Snapshot

85 Records

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Status

Sweetflag Spreadwing (Lestes forcipatus) is widespread but uncommon in Maryland (Richard Orr-Odonata website). Like related species, it breeds in ponds and lakes, including boggy habitats. This species is part of a complex of several very similar spreadwings, which also includes Northern Spreadwing (Lestes disjunctus) and Southern Spreadwing (Lestes forcipatus). Care should be taken to separate from the others, preferably in the hand (Paulson, 2001)(Lam, 2004). This species is ranked as an S3 (watch list) in Maryland.

Seasonality Snapshot

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Source: Wikipedia

Sweetflag spreadwing

Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Zygoptera
Family: Lestidae
Genus: Lestes
Species:
L. forcipatus
Binomial name
Lestes forcipatus
Rambur, 1842

The sweetflag spreadwing (Lestes forcipatus) is a species of damselfly in the family Lestidae, the spreadwings. It is native to North America, especially eastern parts of Canada and the United States.[1]

Identification

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This is a medium-sized spreadwing, measuring about 38 to 50 millimeters in length. The male has a dark or black thorax with tan or bluish sides and with pale stripes across the shoulders. The abdomen is dark with a light gray tip. The body is pruinescent, especially in older specimens. The female is thicker in build with a dark to black body. Both sexes may have a light brown spot on the underside of the thorax.[2]

This species is difficult to distinguish from the common spreadwing (L. disjunctus).[3][4]

Biology

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This species lives near ponds, marshes, and slow-running streams.[2]

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lestes forcipatus.
  1. ^ Lestes forcipatus – Sweetflag Spreadwing. The Dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) of the Columbia Basin, British Columbia. Royal BC Museum.
  2. ^ a b Lestes forcipatus. Wisconsin Odonata Survey. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
  3. ^ Sweetflag Spreadwing, Lestes forcipatus. NJOdes: The Dragonflies and Damselflies of New Jersey.
  4. ^ Simaika, J. P., & Cannings, R. A. (2004). Lestes disjunctus Selys and L. forcipatus Rambur (Odonata: Lestidae): some solutions for identification. Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia, 101, 131-140.
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