springtime darner

The thorax is brown with two narrow, straight, pale yellow to white stripes. On young individuals there are two similar stripes on the upper (dorsal) surface, but these fade with age. The abdomen is brown with blue spots on males, blue or green spots on females. The blue spots may be gray during cool temperatures. The cerci on the female are narrow and as long as the 9th and 10th abdominal segments together. Males have paddle-type claspers. There is a small, opaque, brown spot at the base of each wing.

Two field guides, Dragonflies of the North Woods (2003) and Dragonflies through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America (2000), state that springtime darner has blue eyes. BugGuide.net states that the eyes are “generally blue.” All of the photos in both field guides and on the Websites BugGuide.net, Odonata Central, and Wisconsin Odonata Survey, show either brown eyes or mostly brown eyes with a small blue area. My photos show brown eyes. The eye color would best be described as “brown, often with some blue.”

The eyes are brown, often with some blue.

2″ to 2⅝″

Slow streams and rivers in forested areas, ponds, and small lakes with little shoreline vegetation.

Mid-May to early July

After the common green darner, which emerges in April, this is the earliest darner to emerge in the spring. No other darners emerge before mid-June.

Flying insects

Sources

7, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, 82, 83

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, 8/7/2025).

Haarstad, J. 1997. The dragonflies of selected eastern Minnesota rivers. Report submitted to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Unpaged.

Steffens, W. P., and W. A. Smith. 1999. Status survey for special concern and endangered dragonflies of Minnesota: population status, inventory and monitoring recommendations. Final report submitted to the Natural Heritage and Nongame Research Program, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 54 pp.

Common

Basiaeschna janata (Springtime Darner)
Allen Chartier

Spring Darner dragonfly
Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren