''Sympetrum vicinum'', the yellow-legged meadowhawk or autumn meadowhawk, is a member of the

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 ...

family. It grows to 26–35 mm long.

Description

Naiad

This species has a small naiad, with a length of . 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 the genus.

Adult

This is a small dragonfly, with a length of . 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

This dragonfly is found in and around marshes, ponds and slow-moving streams throughout the eastern United States, southern Canada, the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

, and the west coast of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. 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 NovemberMead, Kurt. (2009) Dragonflies of the North Woods, Second Edition, Duluth, MN:Kollath+Stensaas Publ. p.152-153.

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 from the water to 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 abundant where it occurs, with large numbers of pairs flying and laying eggs in tandem.

Reproduction

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 The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae (Centrarchidae, sunfish) family (biology), family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern ...

'') 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

*
''Sympetrum vicinum''
Idaho Museum of Natural History * * *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. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2234557 Libellulidae Odonata of North America Insects described in 1861