Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

Suborder Zygoptera — the damselflies — contains about 3,000 species worldwide and is the sister group to true dragonflies (Anisoptera) within the order Odonata. Both groups date to the Carboniferous (~300 million years ago) and share the same fundamental biology: aquatic predatory naiads (larvae) that breathe through gills and hunt other invertebrates and small fish; aerial predatory adults that catch mosquitoes, midges, and other flying insects. The two suborders differ in body proportions and wing posture: damselflies are slimmer and rest with their wings folded up over the body, while dragonflies are more robust and rest with their wings spread flat. Calopteryx maculata — the ebony jewelwing — is one of the most striking temperate-zone damselflies. Males have iridescent metallic blue-green bodies and entirely jet-black wings; females have green-bronze bodies with smoky-translucent wings carrying a single white pterostigma spot. The species inhabits slow-moving woodland streams across the eastern US and southeastern Canada. Adults perform elaborate territorial flight displays over emergent vegetation; males defend small stretches of water with hovering 'cross-flights' and wing-flashing. Mating involves the famous 'wheel position' shared with dragonflies, in which the male grasps the female by the head with abdominal claspers while she retrieves sperm from a secondary genital pocket on his abdomen — one of the most distinctive copulation postures in the animal kingdom.