Names and Taxonomy
- Common Names: Blue-eyed darner
- Synonyms:
- Order: Odonata (Damselflies and Dragonflies)
- Family: Aeshnidae (Aeshnids, Hawkers, or Darners)
- Genus Information: nk species in NV, nk in CA, 2 in US
Rhionaeschna multicolor
Blue-eyed Darner
Introduction:
The eyes of both males and females are bright blue. The male is dark brown to brownish black. The top of the thorax, behind the head, is marked with two blue stripes, and each side of the thorax is marked with a pair of blue diagonal stripes. The abdomen is marked with both large and small blue spots. The anal appendages of males and females are forked and the female is marked similarly to the male; however, the base color is brown and the markings are green.
Life Cycle: Males patrol at about waist height over open water, along the margins of water bodies and among dense vegetation, often having a regular "beat", and occasionally pausing briefly to hover. Copulating couples spend some time finding a suitable location in which to perch, often high in waterside trees. Females lay eggs among dense emergent water plants, and on floating stems and branches in open water, depositing the eggs both above and below the surface.
Size 2.6–2.8 inch (65-70 mm)
Sexual Dimorphism:
Metamorphosis: complete (egg, larva, pupa, adult)
