Image of Erpetogomphus eutainia Calvert 1905

Description:

"After a failed search on 8/1 that involved spending several morning hours looking in the riverside park to the north of here, I realized at the end of my day (ran out of water at noon-ish), that this area was probably the more ideal habitat for Ringtails. Many Eastern Ringtails were out and about, but no little dragonflies with blue faces... I made up my mind to return and start here on another day. My family and I arrived a few minutes after 8:00, and I found the first female on barbed wire at 8:15 am. A second female was found on grass soon after that, around 8:30, and a male was found on poison ivy stems at about 8:45. I continued searching to the NE of this area, out in the roughly mowed field, and along the tall grass next to the road near the 'come and take it' monument. No more were found (lots of Eastern Ringtails though). See the image with precise locations for more info. I noticed that all three were perched between 6"" and 24"" off the ground. They seemed to be more active and harder to approach at first, but by the last one, they didn't startle easily. The description that they fly a bit like a damselfly is accurate. I knew they were a dragonfly as soon as they flew up, but they are darker, small, and stayed low over or in the grasses and weeds. The first two females were found on or near the lower strand of barbed wire on the fence along the ranch road. At 9:45, we were ready to call it quits (the heat and humidity were on high), when a local lady arrived and asked 'are you all looking for the dragonfly?' When I told her yes, she said she had been looking for it and had been there when Greg Lasley had seen one recently. I took her back to the areas where I had found the three, but there were none to be found at 9:45-10:00 along the same edges or in the field. I'm not sure where they went, but it definitely seems as if the heat and full sun had driven them into hiding."