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band-winged meadowhawk
band-winged meadowhawk (Sympetrum semicinctum) [female] [male]
Photo © Mary Kay Rubey [female]
Photo © Joyce Gibbons [male]
Features and Behaviors
FEATURES
The band-winged meadowhawk is the only meadowhawk with large patches of orange and brown at the base of its wings that look like bands. Females are paler in appearance. Males have red-brown eyes over green and tan with red-brown faces. The male thorax is brown-red. The abdomen is bright red with a distinct black stripe on the sides of segments two through ten, increasing towards the tail. Females have duller red eyes over pale red or green. The female thorax has a brown front, yellow sides, and sometimes red on top or distinct black lines on the sides from the legs up to the base of the wings. The female abdomen is darker on the bottom sides.
BEHAVIOR
They fly back and forth and hover thirty feet above the ground over clearings. They perch higher than other meadowhawks. Males perch on twigs and leaves at breeding sites. Pairs are regularly observed flying cross-country in tandem, away from the water. Egg laying occurs in tandem over shallow open water, usually in vegetation. They like open ponds, marshes, grassy meadows, or permanent small seepage areas in open and wooded country. They are found along the northern border and upper northeast quadrant of Illinois. Their distribution extends westward across southern Canada and south into central California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Illinois Range
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Family: Libellulidae
Illinois Status: common, native
