Normally when I photograph a new species of dragonfly I am immediately ecstatic, but that was not the case on Tuesday. After a long day of searching for Uhler’s Sundragons (Helocordulia uhleri) in Prince William County with fellow dragonfly enthusiast Walter Sanford, we were excited when we finally spotted a few of them. It had been an overcast day and it was only when the sun came out after noon that the dragonflies began to appear. Walter was thrilled, but my excitement was a little more muted, because I had photographed this species the previous week—check out my posting First dragonflies of the season for details and photos of my adventures that day.
After a while, Walter noted to me that all of the Uhler’s Sundragons that he had seen so far were female and that he hoped he would see a male. This may sound a little strange, but with some species of dragonflies, the females hang out in a separate area from the males until they are ready to mate, so you do not always see the genders intermixed.
I was wandering around the area a bit, as I am prone to do, when Walter called out to me that he had found a male. I rushed over and managed to get some shots of the specimen, including the first two images below. As it turns out, that was the only male that we saw all day.
The following day, Walter sent me an excited Facebook message informing me that the male dragonfly that we had both photographed was not a Uhler’s Sundragon, but was a Selys’s Sundragon (Helocordulia selysii), a similar species that neither of us had ever seen before. Walter did a records search and it looks the species had never before been documented in Prince William County. Finally I was ecstatic.
How did we not notice immediately that this was a different species? One of the primary differences between the species is that Uhler’s Sundragons have amber-colored markings mixed with dark ones at the base of their wings, while Selys’s Sundragons have only the dark markings. Given the small size of these dragonflies, these differences are hard to spot in the field, but are much easier to see when reviewing images afterwards.
For comparison purposes, I have included a photo of a male Uhler’s Sundragon that I photographed last week. If you look carefully, you can see the amber-colored markings in the final photo that are absent in the first two photos.
You may also notice that there is a spider on the branch in the final photo that appears to be reaching down and tapping the dragonfly on the “shoulder.” In this scenario, I am not sure which species would be the predator and which would be the prey. I have documented several cases in which dragonflies have been caught in spiderwebs and also a case when a jumping spider took down a much larger dragonfly (see my 2014 posting Spider captures dragonfly—the story for a fascinating series of images).
If you would like to see Walter’s account of our encounter with the Selys’s Sundragon, check out his blog posting today entitled Selys’s Sundragon dragonfly (male).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
What a fun find! They are so similar, wow!
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Thanks, Mitzy. I admit that I am a little geeky about dragonflies–otherwise I would not spend long hours in often fruitless searches for uncommon species–but I hope that I am able to convey my enthusiasm to others in a way that they can appreciate, i.e. so they feel like I am doing science for the sake of science. 🙂
Our Aunt (a great outdoors/farm lady) loved dragonflies, among other interesting things of nature. She took remarkable photos years ago considering the equipment. It is funny, we always called her a scientist. Her dragonflies and seashells were well documented.
Great shots, now we see the deformation very clearly.
Thanks. Walter and I should with different equipment and have somewhat different shooting styles, so that even when we are shooting side-by-side, our images may look a bit different.
Nice Mike! Fun to see your dragonfly images!
Thanks, Reed. As you probably know well, this is only the start–there will be more dragonfly postings as the spring turns into summer.
[…] Resource: Selys’s Sundragon dragonfly – a blog post by Michael Powell, my good friend and photowalking […]
What a thrill for you both! Being the first to document a species in your county is great fun. Each photo is a marvelous look at the dragonflies, Mike, and I did see the differences after some searching and your instruction. It warms my heart to know you’re out there dancing with your dragonflies, my friend.
Thanks, Jet. There has been speculation that the Selsy’s Sundragon was present in the county, because it shares the same season and preferred habitat with the Uhler’s Sundragon. This sighting confirms those suspicions. These little creatures are only an inch and a half in length, so differences are pretty subtle and hard to see in the field. There are some species that are even harder to tell apart. I love your image of me dancing with the dragonflies–most of the times it is a solo dance with them, though this time it was with my dragonfly-hunting friend.
Nice captures, Mike. Exciting to note the rarity of the sighting! It looks like the Sely’s abdomen is a bit deformed… maybe a close call in its larva stage?
Yes. My friend Walter noted the misalignment of the abdomen in his posting and speculated that it might cause a problem for mating, given the way the parts fit together. Emergence from the larval stage is fraught with so many potential problems that it seems miraculous when they are able to do so perfectly.
Must have been a great surprise to get that id Mike. Nice to get a ‘lifer’.
It was definitely a nice surprise. Walter had warned me to check carefully all of my shots this year, because several of his friends have told him that the two species were often at the same spots.
Great find, Mike. The difference between species is subtle but once you know what to look for it is clear.
Thanks, Chris. Knowing what to look for is the key to bird identification too, it seems. There are so many variables to consider. That is why I really can’t depend on my visual memory in making an identification–a photo is much more useful.
It takes quite an eye…
How interesting! The difference between them is clearly seen in your photos.
I think that I presented the images in a way that made it easy to see the difference. When out in the field, though, we assumed that it was a Uhler’s Sundragon, since that was the only similar species we had seen. When seen from different angles, like from the side, it is a little hard to see the wing markings. And, of course, when the subject is only about 40 mm long, the naked eye can’t really detect the differences. That is why I practice what I call the Law of the Old West–Shoot First and Ask Questions Later.
Glad the shooting we’re talking about only relates to a camera!!!
Yes. “Shooting” has become the subject of too much of our daily news here in the us. At times I feel compelled to talk of taking pictures or capturing images to avoid using the word “shooting.”
Truth. That’s a very good point that I’ll try to keep in mind when doing my own writing.
[…] dragonfly that is quite uncommon and we were both happy to get shots of it, though as I noted in my blog posting about the encounter, we did not realize until after the fact that this was a new discovery—we thought that it was a […]
[…] species only twice in the past, both times in 2021. Check my 16 April 2021 blog posting entitled Selys’s Sundragon Dragonfly for details about my first encounter, including some photos that compare the Selys’s […]