Sunday, September 19, 2010

A Jewel in the Rough

One of the common damselflies that I see around rivers here, especially early in the summer are the river jewelwings. Their name is a little misleading because it is their head, thorax, and abdomen that sparkle like jewels. Their wings are fairly plain.
River jewelwing are a member of the spreadwing damselfly family. Spreadwings are typically larger damselflies. We have three spreadwing damsels that can be found here in Minnesota. The river jewelwing, the ebony jewelwing, which looks just like the river jewelwing except for its wings are entirely black, and the American rubyspot, which is a little smaller then the jewelwings and is metallic red in color. All three of these jewelwing are usually found around rivers and streams but occasionally are found around lakes or ponds also. I photographed this jewelwing at William O'brien State Park which is located on the shore of the St Croix River.

16 comments:

Joanne Olivieri said...

Stunning shot, just look at that gorgeous glittering color.

joco said...

Hiya,
Lovely page with all the colourful photographs. I like the birds and the phlox. My first visit, but I will get back soon to learn more from your informative posts.

The difference between dragon- and damselflies had escaped me until now.
Ther must be a difference in size as well as structure.

Jan n Jer said...

Wow, great photos and very informative, thanks!

Kala said...

Gorgeous color - I didn't know there were so many types of damselflies.

Trish ~ ♥ ~ said...

nice capture, I spent a semester in college studying dragonflies, very interesting critters

Kim, USA said...

Love your shots!!
Macro Monday

Anonymous said...

So neat. Great macro.

Jama said...

What a beautiful neon-colored damselfly!

Sue said...

Hi ya
beautiful macro shot, luv the lighting on it, sue,x

ksdoolittle said...

I observed Jewelwings on my property for the first time this year! I haven't identified them from my photos yet, but I certainly was delighted with their presence. They are a beautiful little critter!

Susan said...

Beautiful captures! I photographed a damselfly for the first time this year. It really made me aware that I need a DSLR!

Maaike said...

great color
like your picture!

"Lillagul" said...

Great photos and interesting info about them too !
Have never been able to catch a Jewelwing with my camera , they just to fast for me :)

EG CameraGirl said...

Cool shots of the jewelwings!

Anonymous said...

Nice shots. One correction: River Jewelwings are members of the Broad-Winged Damselfly family (Calopterygidae), not the Spreadwing family (Lestidae).

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