Image of Plateau Spreadwing

Description:

Note: As of 12.29.15 our review of all the posted observations made to iNaturalist for this damselfly species indicate that this is the first confirmed record made to date on iNat of Plateau Spreadwing (Lestes alacer) for Denton County, Texas. -- Plateau Spreadwing (Lestes alacer) 25 March 2015: Already by late March and since January 2015 through the end of May, the level of rainfall in the North Texas region and across Texas was unusually plentiful breaking eventually by the start of summer all existing record books on the question including that of this region. In this context we visited a soggy and mosquito-saturated Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center (CCNHC) in Denton, Texas. There while on the High Trail which was impassable beyond a certain point due to its having turned into the wetlands that it is and becomes from time to time, we found many damselflies in the water-logged temporary shallow lakes that had formed on either side of the trail. One of these we present in this observation. It is called the Plateau Spreadwing (Lestes alacer). The Pleateau Spreadwing according to the range map and description at Odonata Central (University of Texas at Austin) is found within the United States only in four states including Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona, while a few records have been reported of its flying as far north as Colorado (its northernmost range in the Western Hemisphere in fact) and Louisiana to a lesser degree (to the east). For the most part though Pleateau Spreadwing does not fly in the most eastern part of Texas and our observation was recorded in the outer (eastern) limits of its range approximately. According to the Mexican Odonata site at the Slater Museum of Natural History (University of Puget Sound), Plateau Spreadwing occurs in 15 of the country's 31 states plus the Distrito Federal. In other words, this is a widely occurring damselfly in Mexico and has been recorded in these states (by alphabetical order): Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Distrito Federal, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, México, Michoacán, Morelia, Oaxaca, Puebla, Sonora, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz. Its presence in the United States constitutes the most northern range for this damselfly whose trajectory is primarily that of a neotropical species that ranges northward. South of Mexico, Plateau Spreadwing flies through Central America down to Costa Rica where its most southern range occurs. The images presented here are those of the male of the species. We would have been unable to make this observation without the generous assistance of Greg W. Lasley and Dr. John C. Abbott who made time during their Christmas break to look at one of the images presented here and make the determination as to its IDentification. We thank both of our colleagues for taking the time to lend us their expertise on the matter. Because of its extensive flight range from the Southwest of the United States to Costa Rica in southern Central America, Plateau Spreadwing is inimitably an authentic resident of the Western Hemisphere. CCNHC is administered by the City of Denton, Texas. Sources: Abbott, John C., Damselflies of Texas: A Field Guide (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011, pp. 72-73. Paulson, Dennis R., and Enrique González Soriano, “Mexican Odonata: Odonata of Mexico by State,” Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound, range description or distribution, accessed 12.29.15, http://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/slater-museum/biodiversity-resources/dragonflies/mexican-odonata/ “Pleateau Spreadwing,” Odonata Central, University of Texas at Austin, range map, description, photographs, resource links, accessed 12.29.15, http://www.odonatacentral.org/index.php/FieldGuideAction.get/id/43788