River jewelwing

Description

Calopteryx aequabilis, the river jewelwing, is a species of broad-winged damselfly. The species was first described by Thomas Say in 1839. It is one out of the 170 species of the Odonata found from northeastern Alberta to Newfoundland and south in most of the United States. The male has a metallic blue-green body and black wing tips. The female is duller brown with smoky wing tips that have white spots near the tips. The naiad is pale brown with darker markings. It lives near small to moderate forest streams. Calopteryx is a genus of large damselflies belonging to the family Calopterygidae. The colourful males often have coloured wings whereas the more muted females usually have clear wings although some develop male (androchrome) wing characteristics. In both sexes, there is no pterostigma. It was only in 1890, many years after Leach named the genus Calopyteryx, that it was widely recognized that Leach's name was a junior synonym of the Fabrician genus Agrion, established 40 years prior. The controversy surrounding which genus name has nomenclatural priority has never been formally resolved; the ICZN mandates that Fabricius' name has priority, but the majority of the world's odonate researchers maintain the use of Calopteryx.