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NEUROCORDULIA MICHAELI
BROAD-TAILED SHADOWDRAGON

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KINGDOM : Animalia

PHYLUM : Arthropoda

CLASS : Insecta

ORDER : Odonata

FAMILY :Corduliidae

GENUS :Neurocordulia

SPECIES :N. Michaeli

Introduction of damselfly & dragonfly watching


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NEUROCORDULIA MICHAELI
BROAD-TAILED SHADOWDRAGON

Neurocordulia michaeli, the broad-tailed shadowdragon, is a species of dragonfly in the family Corduliidae. It is found in Canada and the United States.

This species ranges from central Nova Scotia (Klymko and Robinson 2013) and northern New Brunswick to southwestern Maine, west through Quebec (newly discovered) to southern Ontario; a southern disjunct occurs on the New York/Pennsylvania border on the upper Delaware River.

The thorax is brown, the abdomen is blackish with bold yellow rectangles on the sides. The wings are suffused with an orangish tinge at the base, and the eyes are dull greenish to yellowish.

This dragonfly is found only in clear, clean medium to large rivers with a strong current over coarse cobbles and periodic rapids sections; it is not found in tumultuous mountain streams. Larvae have been collected from beneath stones under boulders in water one-half to 1 meter deep in riffles at the head of spring-fed pools. The exuviae (shed skins) can sometimes be found on bridge abutments. Adults presumably live in riparian forests.

The larvae are generalist predators, while the adults feed on emerging mayflies.

The body and wing coloration is very reminiscent of a Baskettail (Paulson, 2011), but the lotic (flowing water) habitat and crepuscular activity period should serve to distinguish a Shadowdragon from the more ubiquitous, usually lentic (stagnant water) Baskettails.

As with all Neurocordulia, this is a crepuscular (twilight) species that flies for about 45 minutes after sundown in late May to early June in New York. Daylight hours are probably spent at rest in the understory of surrounding forests (Catling et al., 2004). Eggs are laid in rapids and the downstream ends of pools, and development of larvae occurs in the interstices of the benthic cobbles.

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