The band-winged meadowhawk (''Sympetrum semicinctum'') is a

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

of the genus ''

Sympetrum ''Sympetrum'' is a genus of small to medium-sized skimmer dragonflies, known as darters in the UK and as meadowhawks in North America. The more than 50 species predominantly live in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere; no ''Sympet ...

'' belonging to the family

Libellulidae The skimmers or perchers and their relatives form the Libellulidae, the largest dragonfly family in the world. It is sometimes considered to contain the Corduliidae as the subfamily Corduliinae and the Macromiidae as the subfamily Macromiinae. Ev ...

Taxonomy

''Sympetrum semicinctum'' is closely related to, and may not be a distinct species from, the western meadowhawk (''Sympetrum occidentale''). Other geographical variants are ''S. californicum'' and ''S. fasciatum''.

Distribution

This species is native to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and Continental United States, from coast to coast. It is present in Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan); United States (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming).

Habitat

This

can be found perched on vegetation along the edges of meadows, in weedy ponds, marshes and lakes, also in the hills or mountains.Hopscotch
/ref>

Description

''Sympetrum semicinctum'' can reach a length of , with a wingspan of .
/ref> The male has a bright red abdomen with black markings on the lower sides and on the top of the segments 8 and 9, creating a U like pattern. The thorax is brownish red and the sides show three irregular black stripes. Face and eyes are dark red. The legs are black. The hind wings have a rusty patch at the base, covering one-third of the wings, while the front wings are almost completely transparent.

Pterostigma The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialized cells in the outer insect wing, wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonfly, dragonfli ...

is blackish red. The female is mainly greenish-yellowish or orange, with red over green on eyes and extended blackish markings on the abdomen. Mature females sometimes turn red like males, while immature males are yellow like females and slowly reach their red coloration.

Biology and behavior

The flight period extends from April to mid October,Dragonflies & Damselflies of New Brunswick
/ref> but this dragonfly is more common in late summer. Adults feed on soft-bodied flying insects. After mating females usually fly in tandem with males during oviposition, performed in flight by dipping the tip of the abdomen into the water. Larvae live in aquatic vegetation. They feed on many different aquatic insects (mosquito larvae, mayfly larvae, other fly larvae, small fish and tadpoles).Montana Field Guide
/ref>

References

External links

World Odonata List

ITIS
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1374363 Libellulidae Odonata of North America Insects of Canada Insects of the United States Insects described in 1839