Green-striped Darner

Yesterday Erika stopped short as we fled the mosquitos in the Carleton College arboretum. An exquisite darner flew slowly along the edge of the path before perching horizontally on a dead weed. Scott King and the Minnesota Dragonfly Society Facebook page all concluded this dragonfly is a Green-striped Darner. This species is found in northeastern North America, west to Minnesota and Iowa.

Field marks include the 90-degree notch on the front thoracic stripe. This stripe also has a broad extension of its top, back aspect. Part of the frustration with being a beginning dragonflier is figuring out terminology. Mead writes that this species spends most of its time in flight, even past dusk. Paulson reports that dense grasslands, the those found in the prairie, are among their favored habitats. When they do perch, they often land on tree trunks.