The variable darner (''Aeshna interrupta'') 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 family
Aeshnidae, native from
Alaska through the
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
to
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, south to
New Hampshire and
Michigan in the eastern
United States, and to the mountains of
New Mexico,
Arizona, and
California in the west. It's named after the distinctive broken stripes on the sides of the
thorax of many male specimens. It lives in many habitats from northern and mountain peatlands to
cattail marshes and temporary pools. It is the characteristic species of
grassland ponds.
References
External links
Variable darnerprofile
Aeshnidae
Insects described in 1904
Taxa named by Edmund Murton Walker
{{Aeshnidae-stub