Unicorn Clubtail

A couple weeks ago at Fairview Farm I met a unicorn! Okay, it's really a Unicorn Clubtail dragonfly. The pond there has sort of a mini-pier that extends out into their pond, and as I went there I saw this largish dark dragonfly perched out there.

Though this is the most widespread clubtail in New Jersey, they tend to shy away from us humans. After getting this picture I tried to move in for a closer shot and (hopefully) a view of the face, but the dragonfly up and left. I wasn't able to get any more pictures of it.

June 1, 2022 at Fairview Farm
Photo 205020424, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

I had never seen one of these before and didn't know what it was before posting it in iNaturalist. They got the "unicorn" part of their name from a prominent occiput, the region of their head that's sort of above/between their compound eyes. If you expand the picture above, I think the "horn" is the slight tip of the lime green area between the eyes. I'm theorizing that it got its name from some entomologist examining them with a magnifying device; I can't imagine someone giving them this name seeing the 15 feet away.

Expanded view

The "clubtail" part of the name comes from the way their abdomen gets wider - a little like a club - towards the end. There is a whole family of clubtails.



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