Plains Clubtail
Encyclopedia
Gomphus externus is a species of dragonfly
in the family
Gomphidae
. This species is commonly known as the plains clubtail.
and pronghorn clubtails. The Tamaulipan clubtail is larger and darker with wider brown thoracic stripes and females lack the erect yellow spines at every end of the postocellar ridge. The proghorn clubtail is smaller, it may not always be reliably separated from the plains clubtail. The male Pronghorn Clubtail has an epiproct that is barely wider than its cerci. The sulphur-tipped clubtail is smaller with yellow on the femora and more yellow on the club.
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...
in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Gomphidae
Gomphidae
Gomphidae is an Odonata family that contains about 90 genera and 900 species. They are commonly referred to as clubtail dragonflies. The name refers to the clublike widening of the end of the abdomen...
. This species is commonly known as the plains clubtail.
Adult
The plains clubtail is a medium to large dragonfly with a length of 2 1/16 to 2 3/8 inches (52 to 60 mm). The base of this dragonfly is brownish black. Its face is marked with yellow. The top of its thorax behind its head is marked with a parallel pair of yellow stripes, and every side of the thorax is marked with several diagonal yellow stripes. The base of its wings may be clouded with yellow where they attach to its body. Its abdomen is black and is marked with a line of yellow dashes along the top. As with other clubtails, the segments at the tip of its abdomen are wider than the rest.Nymph
The nymph of the plains clubtail is a large in size with a maximum length of 1 5/16 inches (33 mm). Its abdomen is thick for most of its length, then tapers to a rounded point at the end of segment ten. On each side of abdominal segments six through nine, there is a single, rear-facing spine. This species has no dorsal hooks.Geographical range
- United States: (ArkansasArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
• ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
• IowaIowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
• IdahoIdahoIdaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
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• KansasKansasKansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
• KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
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• MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
• MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
• MissouriMissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
• MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
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• New MexicoNew MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
• OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
• South DakotaSouth DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
• Texas • U.S. Virgin Islands • UtahUtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
• WisconsinWisconsinWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
• WyomingWyomingWyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
)
- Canada: (ManitobaManitobaManitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
)
Habitat
Plains clubtails prefer moderately flowing rivers and large streams with muddy bottoms, and occasionally lakes.Flight season
The plains clubtail has many flight seasons, mid-July to mid-August is the most common. Another flight season it has is early April to mid-August. This species is most common in spring. In Wisconsin, they have been documented to have a flight season from early June to mid-July.Adult
Plains clubtails will feed on almost any soft-bodied flying insect such as mosquitoes, flies, butterflies, moths, mayflies, and flying ants or termites.Nymph
Nymphs of plains clubtails feed on a wide variety of aquatic insects, including mosquito larvae, other aquatic fly larvae, mayfly larvae, and freshwater shrimp. They will sometimes eat small fish and tadpoles.Ecology
Plians clubtail nymphs can be very selective in their habitat choice and will often occur only in certain stretches of a particular river or stream. They will burrow into the sand or mud, leaving the upturned tip of their abdomen exposed. This helps them to breathe while buried by pumping water in and out of the tip of the abdomen. Unlike most species this dragonfly nymphs emerge as adults during the day. Adults generally fly from mid-July to mid-August. They also have other flight periods. These dragonflies can not tolerate cooler temperatures and are rarely seen flying on cool or cloudy days. Hunting occurs from rocks or bare sand from which they rest on. They perch with their abdomen elevated and their wings drooping so the tips just touch the ground.Reproduction
After when both genders mate, the female flies singly, without the male attached, to lay her eggs by dipping the tip of her abdomen into rivers, lakes, or slow streams while hovering above it. Lab experiments for this species have found that females are capable of laying over 5000 eggs.Similar species
The plains clubtail is most similar to TamaulipanGomphus gonzalezi
Gomphus gonzalezi is a species of dragonfly in family Gomphidae. It is found in Mexico and the United States. Its natural habitat is rivers.-Source:* Abbott, J.C. 2005. . Downloaded on 9 August 2007....
and pronghorn clubtails. The Tamaulipan clubtail is larger and darker with wider brown thoracic stripes and females lack the erect yellow spines at every end of the postocellar ridge. The proghorn clubtail is smaller, it may not always be reliably separated from the plains clubtail. The male Pronghorn Clubtail has an epiproct that is barely wider than its cerci. The sulphur-tipped clubtail is smaller with yellow on the femora and more yellow on the club.