What the hell is a Spreadwing?

So, I've already told you about my slight obsession with Hairstreaks.  What I haven't told you is that I am heavily addicted to Odes.  Don't worry, those are insects too.  Odes, short for Odonates, are dragonflies and damselflies.  While I am fond of all Odes, I am particularly partial to the the Spreadwings.

Spreadwings are damselflies in the family Lestidae.  There are 19 species of spreadwing in North America and, according to records on Odonata Central, 9 species can be found in Missouri.  Though they are damselflies, spreadwings are not as small as many other damsels and can be easily recognized by the way they tend to perch (vertically, abdomen pointed downward) and by the way they hold their wings....can you guess how?  Yes, they perch vertically with their wings spread open (99% of the time).  Several references will describe them as "not brightly colored overall".  This is mostly true; there are flashier odes.  BUT, remember how I like to look closely at things?  If you check out the spreadwings up close, you'll see that they aren't as dull as they sound.

Depending upon the species, you can find spreadwings in Missouri as early as May and as late as November.  Check out this great resource on Missouri Ode seasonality by George Sims.  The best places to hunt for them will be in aquatic areas (streams, ponds, lakes, seasonal wetlands) with abundant emergent vegetation; the absence of fish is a plus too. 

Lets take a closer look at a few of the spreadwings I've encountered in Missouri.  We'll start with the largest of the bunch, the Great Spreadwing (Archilestes grandis).  The Great Spreadwing is known as one of the "stream spreadwings", fitting since it prefers slow, wooded stream areas.

 A male Great Spreadwing - notice how the wings are spread open when the insect is perched

The Great Spreadwing is the only representative of its genus in Missouri (there are only two in North America).  The females oviposit in the stems of herbaceous or woody plants and have been known to deposit eggs 44 feet above water!

Great Spreadwings mating, aka "in tandem"

The rest of the spreadwings in Missouri will be the "pond spreadwings", genus Lestes.  One of the more commonly encountered is the Southern Spreadwing (Lestes australis) which can occupy a wide variety of ponds and lakes as long as there is emergent vegetation.  This species also oviposits above the surface of the water in standing reeds.

Male Southern Spreadwing - check out those eyes

One of the most interesting spreadwings I've encountered in Missouri is the Spotted Spreadwing (Lestes congener).  If I were to call any spreadwing dull, this would be the one.  A darkish brown/black from afar; superficially it is similar to a few other spreadwings, including the Southern Spreadwing.  A key to ID'ing this species is the pair of black spots on each side of the underside of the thorax.  One reason I find this species so interesting is the fact that it can be found late into the "ode-ing season"; I photographed the following specimens in late October.  They also oviposit into above-water plant material, but are a little more picky, preferring dead stems of bulrushes.  The park I observed these spreadwings at uses prescribed burns to manage the prairie land surrounding the sinkhole ponds these odes use, typically burning all the way to the pond edges.  I wonder how the fire effects the population of the Spotted Spreadwing.   Interestingly, these spreadwings can also tolerate saline conditions as long as vegetation is present.

Male Spotted Spreadwing - notice the pair of spots on the lower portion of the thorax

Spotted Spreadwings "in tandem"

Pretty cool insects aren't they?  Even if you aren't keen on dragonfly/damselfly identification, now at least you know how to notice the spreadwings.


Check out a couple excellent resources from a fellow Ode-enthusiast and Missouri Ozarkian George Sims:

A Seasonality of Missouri Odonates

A Distribution of Ozark Odonata

Consider submitting Odonate observations/records to a great database from the University of Texas:

Odonata Central