This year's Great Insect Fair Mascot is the Appalachian Snaketail Dragonfly. Mascots are chosen by the public every year by donating money for one of three candidates. Every dollar counts as one vote.
Appalachian Snaketail Dragonfly / Photo Credit: iNaturalist/plantmandrew (CC BY-NC)
Ophiogomphus incurvatus
Quick Facts
- Adults are typically 1.6 – 1.7 inches in total length
- Face is green
- Eyes are aqua-blue (males) to blue-gray (females)
- Adult females are typically found away from water perching near the tops of low vegetation
- Males perch near rivers, on overhanging vegetation, or on gravel bars and make short patrols (with a bouncy flight) low over riffles, occasionally hovering
- Female oviposits by dipping the end of her abdomen into the water in a series of taps on the water's surface near the same riffles that males are guarding, and then flies back up to the treetops
- When perched, this species is sometimes approachable, but often it is very wary
Where can I see them?
- Found from April through June
- Occurs in the Appalachian mountains, in three separate main populations
- Central Maryland and SE Pennsylvania
- Southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia through the northeastern Georgia and western South Carolina
- Central Alabama and west central Georgia
- Poor water quality and habitat degradation may negatively impact this species
- Uncommon to rare inhabitant of Piedmont or mountain streams with a sandy or gravelly bottom
Outreach Programs and Activities Coordinator
Outreach Programs and Activities Coordinator
