SPOTTED SPREADWING Lestes congener

DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF WEST VIRGINIA SPECIES PAGE

This blue-eyed species is among the last Odonates still active in October and occasionally November. It is a common species found at ponds across the Mountain State. It is also found at lakes and swamps, and occasionally along slow-moving streams.

The male has a black thorax with a brown or grayish shoulder stripe. The lower sides of the thorax are very light in color and usually have some black spots (typically two) down very low. The male’s abdomen has a bluish-gray to gray tip.

The females are very similar in coloration, but have a stockier abdomen. The female’s abdomen color is brown, while the male’s abdomen may be blackish or brown. The eyes of the female are typically more muted in color than those of the male.

This cosmopolitan damselfly is found not only in the hills of West Virginia, but also across much of Canada, in nearly every state of the U.S., and over the border into Mexico.

Male Spotted Spreadwing, showing the narrow brown shoulder stripe that is typical of both sexes. On some individuals this stripe becomes obscured with age.

Ovipositing Spotted Spreadwing. This female shows the two spots that give this species its common name; males have these spots too. Spotted Spreadwings usually oviposit in tandem (see photo at the very top of the page), but this one is going it alone.

All images on this page are © Stephen Cresswell.

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