elusive clubtail

elusive clubtail (Stylurus notatus) [female] [male]
Photos © Mark Kluge

FEATURES
These dragonflies are dark and large with moderately sized club tails. Adults are rarely observed. Males have blue eyes and a pale face crossed with a brown bar. Multiple (five or six) yellow and dark diagonal stripes are on the thorax. Black legs and abdomen with pale stripes are on top of the first and second segments, followed by pale triangles on the third through eighth segments. Tiny pale spots are on the sides of segments three through six, and larger on seven through nine. The female has the same coloration, with more noticeable pale-yellow spots on the sides of the middle abdomen.

BEHAVIOR
Adults are rarely seen. They fly into the forest canopy to feed and return to the breeding habitat briefly to breed. Usually, they fly far out over the water, which leads to difficulty recording observations. They like large, slow rivers and occasionally large lakes. They are found in the upper tenth of Illinois and along the borders with northern Missouri, Indiana, and Kentucky. The range through all of Wisconsin and northward into Canada.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Family: Gomphidae