Sympetrum vicinum

Yellow-legged meadowhawk
Male
Female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Family:	Libellulidae
Genus:	Sympetrum
Species:	S. vicinum
Binomial name
Sympetrum vicinum (Hagen, 1861)[1]

Sympetrum vicinum, the yellow-legged meadowhawk or autumn meadowhawk,^[2] is a member of the Libellulidae family and grows to 26–35 mm long.

Description

Naiad

This is a small naiad, with a length of 12 to 15 mm (0.47 to 0.59 in). It is mottled green and brown in color. The abdomen has several large hooks along the top, and the last two abdominal segments have a single, large, rear-facing spine on each side. This species has bigger eyes than other members of this genus.

Adult

Juvenile male, Ottawa, Ontario

This is a small dragonfly, with a length of 30 to 35 mm (1.2 to 1.4 in). The wings are mostly clear but have a small patch of yellowish to orange clouding at the base of each hindwing. Mature males are brownish black on the face and thorax and have a red abdomen, while immature males have a yellow thorax and a yellowish brown abdomen. Females have a brown thorax and a brownish-red abdomen. As its common name implies, the legs of the adults are yellow.

Range and habitat

You can see this dragonfly in, and around marshes, ponds and slow-moving streams throughout the eastern United States, southern Canada, the Great Plains, and the west coast of North America. This species has two separate populations in North America. One is found from Ontario east to Nova Scotia, extending south into the U.S. to Texas and Florida. The other population occurs in British Columbia, Washington, and Idaho.

Adult flight season

Late July to early November^[2]

Diet

Naiad

Naiads feed on a wide variety of aquatic insects, such as mosquito larvae, other aquatic fly larvae, mayfly larvae, and freshwater shrimp. They will also eat very small fish and tadpoles.

Adult

The dragonfly will eat almost any soft-bodied flying insect including mosquitoes, flies, small moths, mayflies, and flying ants or termites.

Ecology

The naiads live in the debris of the bottoms of lakes and ponds. They do not actively pursue prey but wait for it to pass by, a strategy which affords them protection from other predators. The naiads emerge, or make the transition to adult dragonflies, at night. Adults fly from early August through October. This species flies later in the fall than any other species in the Northwest, with observations as late as October 29 in Idaho, and into November in Washington. The adults of this species hunt flying insects from perches on rocks or bare branches. The Latin name for this genus, Sympetrum, means "with rock" and refers to their habit of basking on rocks to absorb heat early in the day. This dragonfly is extremely abundant where it occurs, with large numbers of pairs flying and laying eggs in tandem.

Reproduction

Tandem position, male in front

The female flies with the male still attached after mating (a position called "in tandem") and lays her eggs near the shoreline of lakes and ponds by dipping the tip of her abdomen on the surface of the water. Large-mouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) have been observed following mated pairs of dragonflies as they fly just above the surface, and then eating them as they touch the surface to lay eggs.

Conservation

Populations are widespread, abundant, and secure.

References

• Dunkle, Sidney W. (2000). Dragonflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511268-7. 
• Sympetrum vicinum, Idaho Museum of Natural History
• Corbet, P.S. (1999). Dragonflies: Behavior and Ecology of Odonata. Ithaca, New York, USA: Cornell University Press. p. 829. 
• Needham, J.G.; Corbet P.S. (1955). Dragonflies of North America. Berkeley, California, USA: University of California Press. p. 615. 
• Logan, E. R. 1967. The Odonata of Idaho. Unpublished M. S. thesis. University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA, 105 pp.
• Needham, J. G. and M. J. Westfall. 1955. Dragonflies of North America. University of California Press, Berkeley, California, USA, 615 pp.
• Paulson, D. R. 1999. Dragonflies of Washington. Seattle Audubon Society, Seattle, Washington, USA, 32 pp.
• Walker, E. M. and P. S. Corbet. 1975. The Odonata of Canada and Alaska, Vol. III. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 307 pp.

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