- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Did you know that there are 73 species of dragonflies (Anisoptera) in California?
We've been waiting for an updated field guide book on our state's dragonflies, and now it's here.
Dragonfly experts Kathy Biggs and Sandra von Arb have just announced their newly published book, Dragonflies (Anisoptera) of California,published by Nature/Field Guides. It's a 200-page, spiral-bound book, rich with images, and featuring ALL of the 73 known species of dragonflies in California (many of these dragonflies also inhabit nearby states).
We remember Biggs and von Arb sharing their expertise at a dragonfly open house at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, on Sept. 20, 2015 with international dragonfly authority Rosser Garrison, author of Dragonfly Genera of the New World: an llustrated and Annotated Key to the Anisoptera (now a retired insect biosystematist, California Department of Food and Agriculture); and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas. UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers also has shared his expertise on dragonflies at Bohart Museum open houses.
Biggs and von Arb relate they met through their shared passion for dragonflies. Biggs? An experienced dragonfly guide and author. Von Arb? A biologist and founder of the Biodiversity Education and Research Foundation, commonly known as BEAR or BEAR Foundation.
The authors point out that the book contains:
- More than 146 full-color photographs of both the males and females and their descriptions (photos also include nymph/exuvia for each genus)
- Habitat, distribution maps, flight periods, behaviors, similar species and oviposition techniques for each species
- Clear and easy-to-use format
Among the photographers contributing to the book are Pierre Deviche, Jim Johnson and Matthew Matthiessen. "Greg (Kareofelas) has a thumbnail showing a close-up of one of a snake tail faces showing the horns on the females," Biggs added.
You can order the book here. The link shows sample pages as well. It may be available soon from the Bohart Museum of Entomology gift shop, where Biggs also has dragonfly books.
Now, I'm waiting for that flameskimmer to snag a flying insect, just as its ancestors did. Dragonflies existed before the Age of Dinosaurs; dinosaurs lived during the Mesozoic Era (and that was 252 to 66 million years ago). Indeed, fossil records show that these dragonfly ancestors were the world's largest flying insects, some with wing spans measuring three feet.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
On her arm is a Cordulegaster diadema, aka Apache spiketail, and it's beautiful.
Anna, who didn't follow her father's footsteps into the field of entomology, instead has a dragonfly within arm's reach.
Anna, employed at Deluxe Studios (remotely), and her researcher father recently attended an insect-drawing class at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, "An Evening at the Museum." The class, taught by Professor Miguel Angel Miranda of the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain, a participant in the newly concluded 10th International Dipterology Congress in Reno, drew such comments as "So much fun!"
No tattoo for Rosser?
"Nope," said Rosser. "No tattoos on me. Just over 50,000 preserved dried Odonata specimens--over 3000 species--from all over the world here at home in Sacramento."
Three thousand different species...that's nearly half of the world's 6000 described species of dragonflies.
Rosser served as a senior biologist/entomologist for Los Angeles County from 1984 to 2004 before becoming a senior insect biosystematist with the CDFA Plant Pest Diagnostics Branch, Sacramento, where he identified orthopteroid, heteropteroid, other groups of invertebrates including mollusks. He currently enjoys working on Odonata at his home in Sacramento.
One of them is C. diadema, commonly known as the Apache spiketail ("spiketail" refers to the female's prominent ovipoistor). The adult is usually 74-88 millimeters long. "It ranges from southwestern United States to Mexico and Costa Rica," according to Wikipedia, which notes: "The back of the head is yellow to brown with yellow to black hairs, though some have been reported with a black head with white hairs. The first proximal segment of the legs are yellow. The thorax has two lateral stripes with a yellow stripe between them."
The Bohart Museum featured Garrison and his work at its November 2022 open house on dragonflies. He displayed “the largest dragonfly in the world," Petalura ingentissima, found in Queensland, Australia. Its wingspan can measure 160 mm. Among his other specimens: some of the world's smallest dragonflies, including Nannothemis bella, Perithemis tenera (both eastern United States) and Nannophya phymaea (Singapore).
Anna isn't the only one in the family who has dragonflies within an arm's reach!
The Bohart Museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens, including 469 different species of dragonflies. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus., it is open to the public (summer hours) on Tuesdays from 2 to 5 p.m. Admission is free. More information on the Bohart Museum is available by contacting (530) 752-0493 or emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's what Professor Miguel Angel Miranda of the University of the Balearic Islands (UBI), Spain, asked participants in his insect-drawing workshops on Saturday night, July 22 at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house.
Miranda, newly returned from the 10th International Dipterology Congress, held July 16-21, in Reno, volunteered to demonstrate "how to draw a bug" at the Bohart open house. The four-hour event, billed as "An Evening at the Museum," featured displays of moths (National Moth Week) and flies (Dipertology Congress).
The half-hour art workshops took place in the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology classroom, adjacent to the Bohart headquarters in the Academic Surge Building.
First, the professor asked the participants what insects they like, and what they would like to draw.
"Centipedes!" a man said.
"That's not an insect," Miranda jovially replied. "What do you like about centipedes?"
Miranda turned to the other participants. "What other insects do you like?"
"Spiders!" a woman said. Miranda smiled, and agreed that spiders are cool, but "That's not an insect. What do you like about spiders?"
"The fangs," the woman answered.
The next response: "Dragonflies."
"What do you like about dragonflies?"
"The wings!"
Miranda, who joined the UBI faculty in 1995, is a zoologist, entomologist and noted insect illustrator. He currently teaches zoology, parasitology, and biotechnology applied for pest control. He is a member of UBI's Applied Zoology and Animal Conservation Research Group or ZAP. He served as the editor and cartoonist of the fanzine Plomi Corcat from 1991 to 1992. He curated the exhibition "Comic and Science" at the 2021 Comic Nostrum International Festival.
Miranda began his scientific career studying parasitoids of the pine processionary (Thaumetopoea pityocampa), a moth species that causes economic damage to coniferous forests. He researched Mediterranean fruit flies for his doctorate (1991). He has also researched tobacco aphids, scale insects of citrus, termites, ticks, sandflies and mosquitoes, including the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus. He has conducted extensive scientific work in the study of other insects of economic importance, including Hymenoptera parasitoids of plant pests, the red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus); parasites of bees, such as Varroa destructor; and the parasite Oestrus ovis. He writes a blog and posts Tweets.
"That class was so much fun!" said participant Nancy Ruiz, who added humor to the class by sketching a fly swatter and a fly.
The Bohart Museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a global collection of eight million insects, plus a live insect petting zoo, and a gift shop, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It is open to the public, summer hours, on Tuesdays from 2 to 5 p.m.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
While dragonfly experts fielded questions from guests, over at the arts-and-crafts table, children and their families eagerly colored pages from Kathy Claypole Biggs' dragonfly coloring book, and created decorative dragonfly candles.
Bohart volunteers Barbara Heinsch of Davis and high school student Kate Phillips of Da Vinci Charter Academy staffed the table.
The dragonfly candlemaking project came with instructions:
- Take a small, pea-sized amount of beeswax.
- Roll it out so it is long and skinny (about 3 cm)
- Divide it into 2 equal parts (about 1.5 cm each)
- Press a long one on the candle for the thorax/abdomen
- Roll the other half into a ball and press that on for the head/wings
- Take a pea-sized amount of beeswax
- Roll it out so it is long and skinny (about 4 cm)
- Divide it into 4 equal parts (about 1 cm each)
- Press these onto the candle as wings near the thorax.
Biggs' coloring book, Dragonflies of North America: A Color and Learn Book with Activities, with illustrations by Tim Manolis, showcases 37 common species of dragonflies and damselflies.
Biggs usually participates in the Bohart Museum dragonfly open houses, but was out of the country at the time. Her biography indicates that she worked as an educator in her hometown of Sebastopol in the Gravenstein Union School District for 18 years before becoming an author/publisher/dragonfly/wildlife pond spokesperson.
At the open house (see more information and images on Bug Squad), a sign, "Meet the Dragonfly Experts," greeted the more than 220 guests. The experts featured:
- Rosser Garrison, retired from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (Pest Diagnostics Branch of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services)
- Christopher Beatty, a visiting scholar in the Program for Conservation Genomics at Stanford University
- Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas
- UC Davis doctoral student Christofer Brothers of the laboratory of Professor and Chancellor's Fellow Stacey Combes, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences.
- Andy Rehn, stream ecologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and a UC Davis doctoral alumnus
Also sharing her expertise was senior biologist Sandra Hunt-von Arb of Pacific Northwestern Biological Resources Consultants, Inc.
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946 and named for UC Davis professor and noted entomologist Richard Bohart, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, it houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, as well as the live "petting zoo" and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, books, posters, jewelry, collecting equipment and more. It is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. For more information, access the website or contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That was the theme of the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 6, and dragonflies do just that--they rule.
They don't just rule in the water as larvae and in the air as adults.
They ruled at the Bohart Museum open house as visitors examined the displayed specimens; admired the images in the displayed books and the slide presentations; and chatted with the dragonfly experts.
A sign, "Meet the Dragonfly Experts," greeted the more than 220 guests:
- Rosser Garrison, retired from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (Pest Diagnostics Branch of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services)
- Christopher Beatty, a visiting scholar in the Program for Conservation Genomics at Stanford University
- Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas
- UC Davis doctoral student Christofer Brothers of the laboratory of Professor and Chancellor's Fellow Stacey Combes, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences.
- Andy Rehn, stream ecologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and a UC Davis doctoral alumnus
Garrison, widely recognized as one of the current leading experts of the taxonomy of New World Odonata, delivered an hour-long presentation and answered questions. He and his wife, Natalia von Ellenrieder, a senior insect biosystematist with CDFA, have worked intensively with the Odonata fauna of the Neotropical region. He has written more than 100 publications pertaining to Odonata, including three books: Dragonfly Genera of the New World: An Illustrated and Annotated Key to the Anisoptera (2006), Damselfly Genera of the New World: An Illustrated and Annotated Key to the Zygoptera (2010) and, as co-author, Dragonflies of the Yuangas: A Field Guide to the Species from Argentina (2007).
Garrison told the crowd that "There are over 6300 species of dragonflies throughout the world. They are excellent fliers; they hunt by sight and seize their prey (other insects) on the wing. Their size ranges between 2 and 15 centimeters."
Other facts discussed about dragonflies included:
- The larvae are aquatic and they can be carnivores.
- The fossil record is rich.
- Dragonfly relatives existed before the onset of the dinosaurs---Triassic Period, 250 to 200 million years ago
- They have a primitive flight mechanism compared to other insects, bees, butterflies, beetles and flies.
- Dragonflies mostly mate on the wing.
- They are not poisonous and they do not sew up people's ears (“devil's darning needles”). However, one group of large dragonflies are called—appropriately—"Darners."
- Larvae have a prehensile foldable lower lip unique in insects; it is used for capturing prey like mosquito larvae or even small fish.
Garrison's publications include descriptions of more than 75 new species and six new genera of Odonata. In the Americas, he has done entomological field work in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Guyana, French Guiana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. He has also collected dragonflies in Australia, Papua New Guinea, China, Thailand, Namibia and Iran. One genus and 10 species of Odonates are named after him.
Christopher Beatty
Christopher Beatty has been working "for a few years on petaltail dragonflies, with much of the work focused on the Black Petaltail (Tanypteryx hageni) in California and Oregon." Beatty was recently selected to present the prestigious Entomological Society of America's Founders' Memorial Lecture at the 2022 Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of America, Canada, and British Columbia. He'll speak at the awards breakfast on Nov. 15 on "The Passionate Observer: The Life and Times of Jean-Henri Fabre." Fabre (1823-1915) was a French naturalist, entomologist, educator, and author.
Beatty said he has focused much of his entomological career studying the behavior and ecology of dragonflies and damselflies, having served in research and teaching positions at the University of Vigo (Spain), Santa Clara University, Cornell University, the University of Kiel (Germany), and Stanford University. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 peer-reviewed articles since 2003, and he is co-editor of the newly published Dragonflies & Damselflies: Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press).
Andy Rehn is a stream ecologist studying benthic macroinvertebrates as part of bioassessments of bodies of water to ensure they are healthy and clean for drinking and recreation and can support diverse, native wildlife. He received his doctorate, studying dragonflies, at UC Davis in 2000.
Christofer Brothers
Cristofer Brothers is a fourth-year animal behavior doctoral student. He is researching how dragonflies, in both their nymph and adult stages, use their legs to capture prey. In particular, he studies the behavior of the flameskimmer, Libellula saturata. Brothers delivered a guest presentation on dragonfly predation behavior at the 2022 UC Davis Bio Boot Camp.
Greg Kareofelas
Greg Kareofelas credits Andy Rehn with inspiring him to study dragonflies. "That was when Andy was a doctoral student at UC Davis." Kareofelas, a longtime Bohart associate, naturalist and insect photographer, assists at Bohart events and presents informational talks at the Bohart Museum lab meetings, among other venues. He most recently gave a presentation on dragonflies at the Nov. 4th lab meeting. His work includes providing images for the poster, "Dragonflies of California," available in the Bohart Museum gift shop. Entomologist Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a UC Davis doctoral alumnus, designed the poster.
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, it is the global home of eight million insect specimens, as well as the live "petting zoo" and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry, collecting equipment and more. Named for UC Davis professor and noted entomologist Richard Bohart, it is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.