CLOSED: "Blue Darner" species

..."Blue Darner" Aeshnidae sp.... can anybody come up with the species name..??

Not a darner, it's in a different family (Libellulidae); namely a male blue dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis -
http://ken52.smugmug.com/Nature/Damselflies-and-Dragonflies/1671430_Cg6DFQ#!i=88853019&k=rXpnQnK&lb=1&s=A

once again; you are absolutely correct

I notice most eye color in this species is all greenish... some individuals (like mine) have multi-colored eyes; with the upper portion being brown... any comments on this variation..??... I saw no mention of a sub-species.

You caught me in a blunder here - after re-examining your image and checking some of my references, I believe that your specimen is a mature female instead of a male. As they age, the body color of the female comes to resemble that of the male, but the eyes are different. Males appear always to have green eyes, but the female eyes are reddish-brown over gray, but may change to green in very old individuals. This just serves to remind me that no matter how sure I may think I am on an i.d., always - always double-check!

great info... thanks... I had assumed this was a male, because it was determined to defend his perch on top of this old, rusty tomato cage... several times, it flew directly at me; returning back to the top of the wire rim... I thought [he/she] might have seen a reflection in my camera lens, which was less than a foot away...normally, the adults won't let you get very close; but I got some good closeups this time.

here's one last shot I took... she flew up, snatched some little fly, returned to her spot, & quickly devoured the catch in front of my camera.

thanks again for your comments... Robert

..another question.... I thought the pruinescence was mostly a MALE thing..??... this individual certainly has some nice blue pruinescence.

...Flapdoodle...re: my last post; I assume then, from your comments, the older, adult females will develop the pruinescence similar to the males..??

green eyes can be either sex, but the red-brown-gray color (my pic) is in the female only..??... just wanted to be sure I got you correct.

thanks again.

In this species at least, the female abdomen exhibits pruinescence with age. But the red/brown over gray eye color does indeed appear to occur only in the females.

This message was edited Jul 10, 2013 9:18 AM

...hummmm... which is it, then..??

you previously wrote:

Males appear always to have green eyes, but the female eyes are reddish-brown over gray

...Flapdoodle...re: my last post;
I'm assuming it was a typo, & you were correct originally (about eye color)... as I did observe this same (female) individual dipping its' abdomen (ova-positing.?) in my kids' wading pool.