Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) of the United States
Odonata of Washington
Grappletail (Octogomphus specularis)
Grappletail (Octogomphus specularis (Hagen))
Behavior: About 3 years are necessary to complete development. Males are seen near water, usually in sunlit openings where they perch on driftwood, stones, or the foliage of surrounding alders. Females are found several hundred feet from the streams but return there to lay eggs. Both sexes readily fly through shaded areas.
Food Habits: Nymphs are predaceous and live in in loose organic trash tha accumulates in pools and eddies.
Habitat: Headwaters of cool, fast-moving streams that drain mountain lakes. Pools along stream edges.
Range: Southern British Columbia south through west slope of Cascades and Coast Ranges to northern Baja California.
Collections: E.O. Essig Museum, University of California, Berkeley.
References:
Needham, J.G., Westfal, M.J., Jr. 1955. A manual of the dragonflies of North
America (Anisoptera). University of California Press, Berkeley and Los
Angeles, xi + 615 p. (160-163).
Walker, E.M. 1958. The Odonata of Canada and Alaska. Volume 2. University
of Toronto Press, Toronto, xi + 615 p. (182-183).
Author: Paul A. Opler
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