[Odonata-l] what is this? and Texas Butterfly Festival

[Joshua Stuart Rose]

On Oct 24, 2006, at 8:23 AM, ben at e-3d.co.uk wrote:
>
> Just discovered the od.list - having had an interest in Odonata  
> since the last
> century! better late than never.. attached is a jpeg of a wee  
> beasty I found
> on the wall outside my house in Cairo one night. Being somewhat  
> torpid it was
> easy to grab between thumb and forefinger. Whilst holding it in one  
> hand I
> managed to take a couple of snaps with a camera held in the other.  
> Being from
> the UK I haven't seen anything quite like it before...

Looks like Pantala flavescens, known in English as the Wandering  
Glider. Unless Egypt has a look-alike species... Most widespread  
dragonfly in the world, found on every continent but Antarctica, and  
also on lots of remote oceanic islands including Easter Island. Bob  
Behrstock and I found several of them this past weekend while we were  
co-leading a pair of "Dragonfly Treks" for the 11th annual Texas  
Butterfly Festival.

Speaking of those treks, Bob and I found 20 species each day, with an  
aggregate total of 29 for the two days. Saturday was sunny and  
stagnant with a high of 89 degrees F; Sunday was cloudy and windy,  
with persistent drizzle and temperatures below 60 F most of the day.  
The first day we were watching dragons and damsels mating, feeding,  
and patrolling territories; the second we had to hunt through the  
brush to find them sleeping, but could get much closer and take much  
better photos. Highlights the first day were male Caribbean  
Yellowface (Neoerythromma cultellatum) and Pin-tailed Pondhawk  
(Erythemis plebeja), while the second day we found a female Straw- 
colored Sylph (Macrothemis inacuta), a male Bar-sided Darner  
(Gynacantha mexicana), and two female darners which we suspect were  
also G. mexicana, but as neither of us had seen the female of the  
species before, and it was not illustrated in any current field  
guide, we collected them and are having them delivered to John Abbott  
for confirmation. We observed Spot-tailed Dasher (Micrathyria  
aequalis) and Slough Amberwing (Perithemis domitia) both days, over  
the water on territory the first, and cold-shocked in the bushes the  
second.

Cheers,

Josh


Joshua Stuart Rose
Program Director
World Birding Center
Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park
Mission TX
http://www.worldbirdingcenter.org/sites/mission/index.phtml
956-584-9156 extension 236
joshua.rose at tpwd.state.tx.us