Image of Cordulegaster sarracenia Abbott & Hibbitts 2011

Description:

Sarracenia Spiketail Cordulegaster sarracenia pair in copula Boykin Springs Angelina National Forest Jasper Co., Texas 1 April 2011 These are the first photos ever taken of breeding behavior by this species. I had not posted them on iNat before, but they have been used in other publications about this species. The Sarracenia Spiketail (Cordulegaster sarracenia) was described new to science in 2011 by Dr. John C. Abbott and Troy D. Hibbitts. An abstract of the Zootaxa PDF article describing this new species is available at: http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/z02899p068f.pdf The full article may be available on the Internet soon, but until then if you would like a copy of the article please contact me (my profile has contact info) and I will send you the PDF of it. The full article describes the original discovery of this new dragonfly and the research that has gone into this species so far. Currently, Sarracenia Spiketail is known only from five counties in east Texas and one parish in adjacent western Louisiana. The species has only been found in and around boggy areas containing the pitcher plant Sarracenia alata. This is also a very early species, with flight dates currently known between 14 March and 29 April. In 2011 they were not found after about 11 April. I was privileged to play a small part in some of the work involved in searching for and documenting this new species at a number of locations in east Texas and western Louisiana in 2010, 2011, and 2012.