Ebony jewelwing
| Ebony jewelwing | |
|---|---|
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| male | |
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| female | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Odonata |
| Suborder: | Zygoptera |
| Family: | Calopterygidae |
| Genus: | Calopteryx |
| Species: | C. maculata |
| Binomial name | |
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Calopteryx maculata (Beauvois, 1805) |
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The ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) is a species of broad-winged damselfly. It is one of about 170 species of Odonata, found in the eastern U.S. and southeastern Canada, ranging west to the Great Plains. Other common names include black-winged damselfly.
It is between 39–57 mm (1.5–2.2 in). The male has a metallic blue-green body and black wings. The female is duller brown with smoky wings that have white spots near the tips. The naiad is pale brown with darker markings.
It lives near wooded streams and rivers, but it can move far from water.
Ebony jewelwings mate in the summer. The male holds the female behind her head with his tail or abdomen. The female lays eggs in the soft stems of aquatic plants. The naiad eats small aquatic insects. When the naiad is fully grown, it crawls out of the water and molts.
This damselfly species can be seen almost year-round in some regions.
Prey of this species includes the tiger mosquito, giant willow aphid, fungus gnats, crane flies, large diving beetles, eastern dobsonfly, water fleas, green darner, aquatic oligochaetes, caddisflies, rotifers, copepods, amphipods, dogwood borer, six-spotted tiger beetle, freshwater triclads, and green hydra.
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Wikipedia