autumn meadowhawk

Autumn meadowhawk is a small, slender, pale, 13 ⁄16″ to 1⅜″ long meadowhawk.

Adult males have a red forehead. The lower part of the thorax is red. The abdomen is red with minimal black smudges on the lower sides. The legs are yellow to reddish-brown.

Juveniles have a tan to yellow forehead. The thorax is yellow to gray. The abdomen is yellowish brown. The legs are yellow or orangish-yellow.

Females are colored similar to the juveniles but eventually develop a red abdomen. There is a prominent, trumpet-shaped ovipositor on the bottom of abdominal segment 8.

The wings are clear with just a small tint of amber near the base.

Wingspan: 13 ⁄16″ to ⅞″

Total length: 1″ to 1⅜″

All other meadowhawks have black or black-striped legs.

Usually permanent, sometimes temporary marshes, ponds, bogs, lakes, slow streams.

Late July to early November

This species has the latest flight period of any dragonfly in Minnesota.

After mating, the female, still attached to the male, lays eggs by dipping the tip of the abdomen in water. She will often alternately dip the tip of her abdomen in shallow water and then in mud. Eggs overwinter and hatch in the spring. The naiads emerge at night in August.

Larvae of mosquitos and other aquatic insects, mayfly nymphs, freshwater shrimp, and very small fish and tadpoles.

Small, soft-bodied flying insects, including mosquitoes, flies, small moths, mayflies, and flying ants and termites.

Sources

4, 7, 17, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Common, often locally abundant

This species was formerly called yellow-legged meadowhawk, after the yellow legs of the juvenile. Mature adults have brown legs, a characteristic that still distinguishes them from all other meadowhawks. The name was recently changed to avoid confusion and misidentification.