Point Pelee Nat’l Park Dragonfly checklist…

[Steve Pike]

Rob Tymstra and I have been piecing together a checklist to the dragonflies of Pelee (only species which have occurred in the park) as there’s no updated checklist currently.  

So far we’ve come up with this list I’ve provided at the end of this email and I’m asking the group if they can take a quick look at it and let us know if there’s anything obviously missing or shouldn’t be on the list at all?  

A few people in this group I believe have even done work on this list for the park in the past so it should be relatively easy to fine tune this list and would save a lot of work searching for missing species on iNaturalist for just one example. 

One species we’re still not completely sure about is Alan Wormington and Bill Lamond’s sighting of a River Cruise so I’ve included this post as well (including original photos attached) as surely there’s been new information on “Wabash” River Cruise since Bill and Alan wrote this in 2014 as I’m hoping so we can finally sort this species out for the checklist. 

Please feel free to reply privately on this if you wish or also to the group if you’d like.

Thanks,

Rob Tymstra and Steve Pike

Subject: [Ont-Odes] Wabash River Cruiser, Point Pelee Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 10:33:09 -0400

Hi,   Alan Wormington, Mike Nelson and me were walking northwards (September 2, 10:30 a.m.) on the Tip west beach path at Point Pelee, watching dragonflies as we flushed them. A dragonfly suddenly landed lazily just to my left, a meter away, on some dogwood. We all immediately looked at this boldly patterned dragon. I was stupefied and unable to deduce what it was. I was thinking Tiger Spiketail, when Alan exclaimed it was a river cruiser. Of course it was, and it quickly became apparent it was not a Swift River Cruiser due to the well-patterned abdomen. We all immediately began taking pictures of this very tame dragonfly. We were discussing ID options when it occurred to me that it had to be a Royal River Cruiser because of the boldly pattern nature of the abdomen. I was thinking that it might be a first record for Essex County (wrong!) and certainly the first record for Point Pelee. We had taken several photos and then I decided this tame dragonfly could likely be caught by hand. I easily caught it and removed some spider webs that were entangling it somewhat. More photos were taken and it was released and it flew back to the dogwood where even more photos were taken.   We considered the possibility of another southern river cruiser species but the only species that came to mind was Gilded. I was certain it would prove to be a Royal. At any rate we had no field guide handy at the time to make the call. The Pelee Visitor Centre did not have a suitable guide either and the internet service at the gift shop was not functioning too well to summon up some images of river cruisers from google.   We eventually got back to Alan's place and consulted some field guides and web images. I soon realized that it was not a Royal River Cruiser and the options were Gilded or Wabash. Wabash being a suspected hybrid species, I figured that it was far more likely that Gilded would be the species in question. However, on closer inspection, the abdominal pattern was not correct for Gilded and it was an excellent match for Wabash River Cruiser.   What is a "Wabash" River Cruiser (Macromia wabashensis)? This is a species or hybrid that is still poorly understood (Paulson 2011). Those authorities that believe it is a hybrid, suggest the parent species are Royal River Cruiser and Gilded River Cruiser. None of the field guides are very helpful, and in fairness, the scientific literature is lacking too. In northeast Ohio there is a population of Wabash River Cruisers that occurs where Gilded River Cruiser does not occur and the population has persisted as a distinct entity. DNA work on this "species" would likely resolve what wabashensis is.   Later in the afternoon I was walking by myself along the west beach about 400 m north of the West Beach parking lot. I flushed a dragonfly that then flew right past me, and although I had no immediate visual memory of its appearance, somehow I knew this was something to see. I then saw it fly again nearby and could see it was a boldly patterned dragonfly. I picked up it up again as it was flying slowly, low down along the edge of a shrubby area in some forbs. I could easily follow it with binoculars and could see it was another boldly patterned river cruiser! I watched it fly lower down and it looked like it was going to land. However, suddenly, I somehow lost sight of it. I assumed it had to have landed. I scanned with binoculars but could not find it. I then walked in, very slowly in an attempt to flush it but I never found it. I scoured the area for another 30 minutes with no luck. I was peeved that I could not find it, as first and foremost I wanted to determine if it was the same species. I assumed it would be, and I wanted to determine if it was the same individual. It seems highly unlikely that it would be the same individual (3 km away) but it seems just as unlikely that there would be two of them. If there are two of them, perhaps there are more, and despite how remote the chances, perhaps there is an incursion of this species at Point Pelee. Point Pelee certainly has its share of bizarre occurrences.   The photos above are from Alan Wormington and the photos below are mine.   Bill

The Dragonflies of Point Pelee (taxonomical order may still need some work which we’ll sort out later)  -add…“Hi Steve. I photographed a male Spadderdock Darner at Northwest Beach on June 3, 2012 and female at NW Beach on June 5, 2021. I'm surprised it is not on your list.” Bob Yukich.  Damselflies Jewelwings Ebony Jewelwing Spreadwings Northern Spreadwing Emerald Spreadwing Sweetflag Spreadwing Elegant Spreadwing Slender Spreadwing Lyre-tipped Spreadwing Dancers Blue-fronted Dancer Blue-tipped Dancer Bluets Rainbow Bluet Azure Bluet Double-striped Bluet Tule Bluet Familiar Bluet Marsh Bluet Stream Bluet Skimming Bluet Hagen’s Bluet Orange Bluet Forktails Citrine Forktail Lilypad Forktail Fragile Forktail Eastern Forktail Sedge Sprite Dragonflies  Darners Canada Darner Mottled Darner Lance-tipped Darner Shadow Darner Green-striped Darner Common Green Darner Comet Darner Springtime Darner Swamp Darner Clubtails Lilypad Clubtail Midland Clubtail Pronghorn Clubtail Dusky Clubtail Elusive Clubtail Spiketail  Twin-spotted Spiketail Emeralds Racket-tailed Emerald Common Baskettail Prince Baskettail Skimmers Calico Pennant Halloween Pennant Eastern Pondhawk Chalk-fronted Corporal  Band-winged Dragonlet Dot-tailed Whiteface Slaty Skimmer Great Blue Skimmer Widow Skimmer Twelve-spotted Skimmer Four-spotted Skimmer Painted Skimmer Blue Dasher Wandering Glider Spot-winger Glider Eastern Amberwing Common Whitetail Blue-faced Meadowhawk Variegated Meadowhawk White-faced Meadowhawk Ruby Meadowhawk Autumn Meadowhawk Striped Saddlebags Carolina Saddlebags Black Saddlebags Red Saddlebags

[Bill Lamond]

Hi,

Good work Steve and Rob,

In regards to the River Cruiser, there does not seem to be any new information on what Wabash River Cruiser is. The specimen from 2014 matches Wabash very well. Lam (2024) still parrots the previous information that Wabash is a presumed hybrid between Royal River and Gilded River Cruisers (primarily found in Ohio) and thus should be considered as such on the checklist. Perhaps list as M. "wabashensis" a presumed hybrid between M. pacifica and M. taeniolata. Not sure how else to list.

Also, has Blue-faced Meadowhawk been recorded at Point Pelee? I thought there were only 4 Ontario records. Three at Pelee Island and one on a boat in Lake Erie in Ontario waters. 

Bill

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Subject: [Ont-Odes] Point Pelee Nat’l Park Dragonfly checklist…

 

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[Steve Pike]

Thanks Bill for your clarification on this, a very interesting addition to the Pelee checklist, we learned a lot here!

If anyone is aware of where this Blue-faced Meadowhawk record came from (as a starting point for this list we also referred to the park’s historical Odenata database) please let us know or any other potential additions.

Thanks!

[Jones, Colin (MNR)]

Hi Steve,

 

Great to see you and Rob working on this!

 

Here are a few additions to your list based upon records contained in the Ontario Odonata Atlas Database and the published literature…

 

Swamp Spreadwing (Lestes vigilax) – 4 records spanning 1922-1927 as listed in Walker 1941 with specimens at ROM, CNC and UofG

 

Taiga Bluet (Coenagrion resolutum) – 1 G.W. Walley record as listed in Walker 1941

 

Vesper Bluet (Enallagma vesperum) – 10 records spanning 1920-1927 (Walker 1941 with specimens at ROM, CNC and UofG) and an additional record in 1987 by Paul Pratt

 

Spatterdock Darner (Rhionaeschna mutata) – 5 records between 1988 and 2012

 

Cobra Clubtail (Gomphurus vastus) – 1 record as listed in Walker 1958

 

 

Regarding Bill’s question about the Blue-faced Meadowhawk record – it is the first Canadian record as reported by P.S. Corbet in Corbet 1967 with the specimen at the CNC

 

 

I’d be interested in further details for the following records (all of which, with the exception of Double-striped Bluet) are associated with rivers and streams:

Ebony Jewelwing

Blue-fronted Dancer

Blue-tipped Dancer

Double-striped Bluet

Stream Bluet

Pronghorn Clubtail

Elusive Clubtail

 

Sources listed above:

 

Corbet, P.S. 1967. A dragonfly new to Canada. The Canadian Field-Naturalist 81: 230.

 

Walker, E.M. 1941. List of the Odonata of Ontario with distributional and seasonal data. Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute 23(2): 201-265.

 

Walker, E.M. 1958. The Odonata of Canada and Alaska. Volume 2. The Anisoptera - four families. Univ. Toronto Press 318 pp.

 

 

Cheers,

Colin

 

Colin Jones

Provincial Zoologist - Invertebrates  |  Science and Research Branch

Ministry of Natural Resources |  Ontario Public Service

705-927-0336  |  colin...@ontario.ca

Taking pride in strengthening Ontario, its places and its people

 

From: ont-...@googlegroups.com <ont-...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Steve Pike
Sent: May 5, 2026 6:08 PM
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Subject: [Ont-Odes] Point Pelee Nat’l Park Dragonfly checklist…

 

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[Steve Pike]

Fantastic Colin and exactly the update I was hoping someone here could help out with.  

This gives us a ln easier step forward so we will work on this and get back, 

Thanks Rob and Steve