This week for Flora and Fauna Friday, we’ll be talking about an insect from an order that we’ve yet to discuss, but you’ll hopefully be seeing more of them in the future. This week we’ll be looking at our first Dragonfly, the Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis).
Eastern Pondhawks are one of our most common and widespread dragonflies here in the lowcountry. They can be found along almost every quiet body of fresh or brackish water. I’ve seen them along ditches, ponds, lakes, wetlands, rivers, lawns, creeks, floodplains, retention ponds, impoundments, ephemeral wetlands, and marshes. Eastern Pondhawks are a medium-sized dragonfly. Larger than our Dashers and Dragonlets, smaller than our Skimmers and Darners, and somewhere in the middle of the size range for our Pennants. Males are a powdery blue throughout the body and females sport a lime green thorax with a black and white striped abdomen. Both sexes share the characteristic clear wings, green head, and white abdomen tip of the species. The species also has a habit of landing on the ground or as low as they can on vegetation. This makes them an easy species to identify.
Like all dragonflies, the Eastern Pondhawk has an aquatic nymph. A wingless first stage of life for living underwater. Dragonfly larvae are accomplished hunters. They possess a hinged, extendable lower jaw that they use to grab prey. Once the nymph is fully grown, they climb up a stem, branch, pole, or wall near the water and begin to molt. From the shell of this nymph will emerge an adult dragonfly. This process may take an hour or more to complete. Dragonflies are ancient and accomplished hunters. Their aerial agility is surpassed only by Hummingbirds. During the day, Eastern Pondhawks feed on flying insects like mosquitoes, flies, moths, butterflies, lacewings, and even other dragonflies.
