Aeshna subarctica

Aeshna subarctica
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Infraorder:	Anisoptera
Family:	Aeshnidae
Genus:	Aeshna
Species:	A. subarctica
Binomial name
Aeshna subarctica Walker, 1908

Aeshna subarctica, the subarctic darner or bog hawker, is a species of dragonfly belonging to the family Aeshnidae, the darners and hawkers. This holarctic dragonfly is found in Europe and Northern Asia (excluding China) and North America.

Taxonomy

Aeshna subarctica was first formally described in 1908 by the Canadian entomologist Edmund Murton Walker with its type locality given as Nipigon, Ontario. ^[2] This species is classified in the genus Aeshna in the family Aeshnidae, the hawkers, in the order Odonata, the dragonflies and damselflies. ^[1]

Subarctic darner, Aeshna subarctica

Subarctic darner, Aeshna subarctica

Subspecies

Aeshna subarctica is further classified into two subspecies: ^[3]

• Aeshna subarctica elisabethae Djakonov, 1922 - northern Europe and Asia
• Aeshna subarctica subarcticaWalker, 1908 - Northern North America

Distribution and habitat

Aeshna subarctica has a holarctic distribution with the nominate subspecies being found in Alaska, Canada south as far as Oregon, Montana, Wisconsin and New Jersey. ^[2] The Eurasian subspecies is found in the northern parts of Europe and Asia from most of Fennoscandia to the Bering Strait, as well as the Baltic states, Poland, northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. To the south of the main range this species can befound in the higher mountains of Europe, although this species is difficult to separate from the sympatric common hawker (A. juncaea) which may cause under-recording. In Europe bog hawkers have been discovered as far south as the Italian Alps and Romanian Carpathians. The bog hawker is restricted to acidic moors and Sphagnum peat bogs where there are naturally flooded depressions or peat diggings. This species prefers habitats where there is some floating sphagnum moss, a habitat called "sphagnum soup", used by the larvae. It is a lowland species in the north of but is restricted to mountains, mostly at altitudes greater than 700 m (2,300 ft) in the south. ^[3]

References

1. Paulson, D.R. (2017). "Aeshna subarctica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T165508A65834544. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T165508A65834544.en . Retrieved 2018-03-15.
2. Dunkle, Sidney; Johnson, Jim; Paulson, Dennis (2021). A Checklist of North American Odonata, Including English Name, Etymology, Type Locality, and Distribution, 2021 Edition.
3. Boudot, J.-P. & V.J. Kalkman (2015). "Aeshna subarctica". Atlas of the European dragonflies and damselflies. The Netherlands: KNNV publishing. pp. 164–166.

Further reading

• Abbott, John C. (2005). Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States. Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0691113647.
• Arnett, Ross H. Jr. (2000). American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico (2nd ed.). CRC Press. ISBN   0-8493-0212-9.
• Ball-Damerow, J.E.; Oboyski, P.T.; Resh, V.H. (2015). "California dragonfly and damselfly (Odonata) database: temporal and spatial distribution of species records collected over the past century". ZooKeys (482): 67–89. Bibcode:2015ZooK..482...67B. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.482.8453 . PMC   4337221 . PMID   25709531.
• Dunkle, Sidney W. (2000). Dragonflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America. Oxford Press. ISBN   978-0195112689.
• Needham, James G.; Westfall Jr., Minter J. Jr.; May, Michael L. (2000). Dragonflies of North America. Scientific Publishers. ISBN   0-945417-94-2.
• Nikula, Blair; Loose, Jennifer L.; Burne, Matthew R. (2003). Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife.
• Silsby, Jill (2001). Dragonflies of the World . Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN   978-1560989592.
• Steinmann, Henrik (1997). Wermuth, Heinz; Fischer, Maximilian (eds.). World Catalogue of Odonata, Volume II: Anisoptera. Das Tierreich. Vol. 111. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN   3-11-014934-6.

External links

• Media related to Aeshna subarctica at Wikimedia Commons