Sparkling Jewelwing Damselfly Habitats: Black Tip, Green Body, White Spot

Summary: North American sparkling jewelwing damselfly habitats in the eastern coastal plains shine with black-tipped, white-spotted wings on metallic green bodies.

"Sparkling Jewelwing (Calopteryx dimidiata), Santa Rosa County, FL, USA," north bank of Blackwater River, image obtained Friday, March 29, 2019.:
Judy Gallagher, CC BY 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

North American sparkling jewelwing damselfly habitats attract arborists, master gardeners, master naturalists and tree stewards with distribution ranges along the east-central United States inland through Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.

Sparkling jewelwings bear their common name because of their shining green iridescence and the scientific name Calopteryx dimidiata (beautiful wing divided) due to black-tipped, see-through wings. Common names cater to the consensus of scientific committees convened by the Dragonfly Society of the Americas concerning non-scientific names for Latin and North American odonates. Descriptions in 1839 by German Argentine entomologist Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister (Jan. 15, 1807-May 2, 1892) of Stralsund, Germany, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, decide scientific designations.

Sparkling jewelwing damselfly lifespans expect abundantly vegetated, clean, fast- or moderate-flowing, sandy-bottomed, small, sometimes canopy cover-sparse, somewhat acidic rivers or streams in open forests or woodlands.

February through November function as optimal, southernmost flight seasons even though June through August furnish wildlife mapping opportunities throughout northeastern and southern sparkling jewelwing habitat niches.

Adult females and males get together, from various times during the day until almost dark, at habitats alongside, near or over somewhat exposed, sunny water bodies. Breeding habitats have subdivisions into successively adjoining small territories that mature males hold down because of site potential as oviposition (egg-laying) hosts to mated adult females. Inhabiting territorial niches within sparkling jewelwing breeding habitats involves holders in bodily contact, in fluttering, spiral flights and in frequent chases 40 feet (12.19 meters) downstream.

Ants, assassin flies, biting midges, ducks, falcons, fish, flycatchers, frogs, lizards, spiders, turtles and water beetles, bugs and mites jeopardize North American sparkling jewelwing damselfly habitats.

sparkling jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx dimidiata):
GFBWT @FLBirdingTrail, via Twitter May 15, 2017

Immature red-eyed sparkling jewelwing damselflies keep to duller, lighter, more faded, paler colors with immature females knowing either female-like coloration as heteromorphs or male-like as andromorphs.

More southerly locations lead to bigger sizes in all life cycle stages, greater incidence of male-like colors in immature females and longer flight seasons for adults. All locations maintain all life cycle stages because of females mating for two minutes after males manifest curled-abdomen, spreadwing floating cross courtship displays over oviposition sites. Spreadwing members of the Calopterygidae broad-winged damselfly family need aphids, beetles, borers, caddisflies, copepods, crane flies, dobsonflies, gnats, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, rotifers, scuds, water fleas and worms.

North American sparkling jewelwing damselfly habitats offer season-coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26.11 to minus 3.88 degrees Celsius).

Freshwater eel-grass (Vallisneria americana), as filters for water quality, homes for edible aquatic invertebrates and stabilizers of sediments and of shorelines, promote sparkling jewelwing life cycles.

Amber or clean, black or semi-darkened, white stigma-spotted wingtips, brown eyes, dark antennae, face and labium (lower lips) and metallic green bodies quicken adult female identifications. Mature male sparkling jewelwings reveal black antennae and lower lips, black-tipped amber or clear wings, dark brown eyes and metallic blue-green to green bodies and faces. Adults show off 1.46- to 1.93-inch (37- to 49-millimeter) head-body lengths, 1.14- to 1.57-inch (29- to 40-millimeter) abdomens and 0.91- to 1.22-inch (23- to 31-millimeter) hindwings.

Dark basal wingspots, dark wide wings and pale mandibles tell on smoky rubyspots and ebony and Appalachian jewelwings in overlapping North American sparkling jewelwing damselfly habitats.

Calopteryx dimidiata appears as bronze-colored, with smoky, broadly black-tipped wings ("16. C. dimidiata: aenea, alis infumatis in apice late nigris"), according to the sparkling jewelwing's describer, German Argentine entomologist and naturalist Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister (also known as Carlos Germán Conrado Burmeister; Jan. 15, 1807-May 2, 1892), in Handbuch der Entomologie, Zweiter Band: Besondere Entomologie (1839), page 829 (http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8223189).
"Calopteryx dimidiata," in Nathaniel Moore Banta, ed., Nature Neighbors: Embracing Birds, Plants, Animals, Minerals, in Natural Colors by Color Photography, vol. V: Animals, Plate 646, opposite page 56.:
University Library, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Acknowledgment

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

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

"Sparkling Jewelwing (Calopteryx dimidiata), Santa Rosa County, FL, USA," north bank of Blackwater River, image obtained Friday, March 29, 2019.:
Judy Gallagher, CC BY 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calopteryx_dimidiata_31166030.jpg;
Photo 34344729: Judy Gallagher (judygva), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via iNaturalist @ https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/34344729

sparkling jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx dimidiata):
GFBWT @FLBirdingTrail, via Twitter May 15, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/FLBirdingTrail/status/864242774480125952

Calopteryx dimidiata appears as bronze-colored, with smoky, broadly black-tipped wings ("16. C. dimidiata: aenea, alis infumatis in apice late nigris"), according to the sparkling jewelwing's describer, German Argentine entomologist and naturalist Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister (also known as Carlos Germán Conrado Burmeister; Jan. 15, 1807-May 2, 1892), in Handbuch der Entomologie, Zweiter Band: Besondere Entomologie (1839), page 829 (http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8223189).
"Calopteryx dimidiata," in Nathaniel Moore Banta, ed., Nature Neighbors: Embracing Birds, Plants, Animals, Minerals, in Natural Colors by Color Photography, vol. V: Animals, Plate 646, opposite page 56.:
University Library, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32495674;
Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLib), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/61021753@N02/6276932440/

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.

Banta, Nathaniel Moore, ed. Nature Neighbors, Embracing Birds, Plants, Animals, Minerals. Vol. V: Animals. Chicago IL: American Audubon Association, 1914.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32495558

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. "Calopteryx Leach, 1815 (Jewelwings)." Aquatic Insects of Michigan > Odonata (Dragon- and Damselflies) of Michigan > Zygoptera, Selys, 1854 > Calopterygidae, Selys, 1850 (Broadwinged Damselflies).
Available @ http://www.aquaticinsects.org/sp/Odonata/sp_oom.html

Burmeister, Hermann. 1839. "8. C. apicalis." Handbuch der Entomologie. Zweiter Band. Besondere Entomologie. Zweite Abtheilung. Kaukerfe. Gymnognatha. (Zweite Hälfte; vulgo Neuroptera): 827. Berlin, Germany: Theod. Chr. Friedr. (Theodore Christian Friedrich) Enslin.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8223187
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/handbuchderentom222burm#page/827/mode/1up

Burmeister, Hermann. "16. C. dimidiata." Handbuch der Entomologie. Zweiter Band. Besondere Entomologie. Zweite Abtheilung. Kaukerfe. Gymnognatha. (Zweite Hälfte; vulgo Neuroptera): 829. Berlin, Germany: Theod. Chr. Friedr. (Theodore Christian Friedrich) Enslin, 1839.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8223189
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/handbuchderentom222burm#page/829/mode/1up

"Calopteryx dimidiata." James Cook University-Medusa: The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies > Zygoptera > Calopterygidae > Calopteryx.
Available via James Cook University-Medusa @ https://medusa.jcu.edu.au/Dragonflies/openset/displaySpecies.php?spid=2921

GFBWT @FLBirdingTrail. 15 May 2017. "Another awesome dragonfly name - Sparkling Jewelwing - found in the northern 2/3 of Florida (OdonataCentral's photo)." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/FLBirdingTrail/status/864242774480125952

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

"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/