Royal River Cruiser Dragonfly Habitats: Broken-Ringed, Unclubbed Abdomen

Summary: North American royal river cruiser dragonfly habitats get big green eyes and dark-tipped, unclubbed abdomens with broken rings and paired spots.

dorsal (top) view of royal river cruiser dragonfly (Macromia taeniolata): Two Rivers Park, Donelson neighborhood, east Nashville, Davidson County, north central Tennessee; Sunday, June 20, 2004: pondhawk, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

North American royal river cruiser dragonfly habitats accept cultivators, as clearers of woodlands less readily than naturalists to distribution ranges from New Jersey through Texas, Kansas, Minnesota, Ontario, Pennsylvania and everywhere in-between.

Royal river cruisers bear their common name as the largest river-patrolling cruiser dragonfly and the scientific name Macromia taeniolata (equally long [with] small ribbon [thoracic band]). Common names convoke scientific committee consensus in the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, whose fifth Bulletin of American Odonatology concerns Central American larval and mature odonates. Descriptions in 1842 by Jules Pierre Rambur (July 21, 1801-Aug. 10, 1870), President of the Société Entomologique de France (Entomological Society of France), decide scientific designations.

Royal river cruiser dragonfly life cycles expect clean, clear, large lakes, rivers and streams with open woodlands, sandy bottoms, slow currents and waterside shrubs and trees.

April through November function as earliest to latest flight seasons even though July furnishes wildlife mapping opportunities in all coastal and inland royal river cruiser habitats.

Male royal river cruisers go from overnight roosts to morning patrols back and forth alongside and over open water at 4 miles (6.44 kilometers) per hour. Females and males hang obliquely or perpendicularly to perches high up in open woodlands or tree canopies between hunting patrols for mates and in mixed-species feeding. They imprison aquatic and terrestrial, flushed and opportunistic, immobile and mobile, low-flying or low-lying invertebrate prey within black-clawed, long ridged, spiny legs and powerful lower lips.

Ants, assassin flies, biting midges, ducks, falcons, flycatchers, frogs, grebes, lizards, spiders, turtles and water beetles and mites jeopardize North American royal river cruiser dragonfly habitats.

Immature royal river cruiser dragonflies keep to dull, faded, light, pale colors and low size ranges even though adults know brilliant blacks, browns, greens and yellow.

Incomplete metamorphosis links green, round eggs laid at two-minute intervals or altogether during rapid flights over open waters, multi-molting larvae, naiads or nymphs and molted tenerals. Two-year life cycles metamorphose immature, nonflying royal river cruisers into shiny-winged, soft-bodied, weak-flying tenerals that mature physically and sexually, mate and manipulate eggs into ovipositing sites. River cruiser members of the Macromiidae cruiser family need aphids, beetles, borers, caddisflies, copepods, crane flies, dobsonflies, gnats, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, rotifers, scuds, water fleas and worms.

North American royal river cruiser habitats offer season-coldest temperatures, north- to southward, from minus 25 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 31.66 to minus 1.11 degrees Celsius).

Beech, bellflower, birch, bladderwort, cattail, daisy, grass, greenbrier, heath, laurel, madder, maple, nettle, olive, pepperbush, pine, pondweed, rush, sedge and willow families promote royal river cruisers.

Amber wings and brilliant green-eyed, yellow-crossbanded, green-black faces, yellow-ringed, yellow-spotted abdomens and yellow upward- and wide-striped black thoracic fronts and shoulders qualify as adult female hallmarks. Adult males reveal black claspers, blue or green faces and foreheads, clear wings, unclubbed abdomens and, like females, one broken-ringed abdominal segment and paired abdominal spots. Adults show off 3.03- to 3.62-inch (77- to 92-millimeter) head-body lengths, 2.16- to 2.68-inch (55- to 68-millimeter) abdomens and 1.81- to 2.44-inch (46- to 62-millimeter) hindwings.

Big sizes, broken rings, dark tips, paired spots and unclubbed abdomens tell royal river cruisers from other odonates in North American royal river cruiser dragonfly habitats.

mostly lateral (side) view of royal river cruiser dragonfly (Macromia taeniolata); Two Rivers Park, Donelson neighborhood, east Nashville, Davidson County, north central Tennessee; Sunday, June 20, 2004: pondhawk, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

dorsal (top) view of royal river cruiser dragonfly (Macromia taeniolata): Two Rivers Park, Donelson neighborhood, east Nashville, Davidson County, north central Tennessee; Sunday, June 20, 2004: pondhawk, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/38686613@N08/4747312561/

mostly lateral (side) view of royal river cruiser dragonfly (Macromia taeniolata); Two Rivers Park, Donelson neighborhood, east Nashville, Davidson County, north central Tennessee; Sunday, June 20, 2004: pondhawk, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/38686613@N08/4747954746/

For further information:

Abbott, John C. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Princeton NJ; Oxford UK: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Beaton, Giff. Dragonflies & Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast. Athens GA; London UK: University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Berger, Cynthia. Dragonflies. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books: Wild Guide, 2004.

Bright, Ethan. "Macromia taeniolata Rambur, 1842: 139 - Royal River Cruiser (syn.) Macromia wabashensis Williamson, 1909: 374." Aquatic Insects of Michigan > Odonata (Dragon- and Damselflies) of Michigan > Anisoptera Selys, 1854 - Dragonflies > Macromiidae, Tillyard, 1917 (River Cruisers) > Macromia Rambur, 1842 (River Crusiers).
Available @ http://www.aquaticinsects.org/sp/Odonata/sp_oom.html

"Macromia taeniolata." James Cook University-Medusa: The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies > Anisoptera >Macromiidae > Macromia.
Available via James Cook University-Medusa @ https://medusa.jcu.edu.au/Dragonflies/openset/displaySpecies.php?spid=731

Paulson, Dennis. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides, 2011.

Rambur, M. P. (Jules Pierre). "3. Macromia taeniolata, mihi." Histoire Naturelle des Insectes: Névroptères: 139-140. Paris, France: Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, 1842.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015058433833?urlappend=%3Bseq=171
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/histoirenaturel53buffgoog#page/n176/mode/1up

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/