The News Journal of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas
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ISSN 1061-8503 ARGIATh e News Journal of the Dragonfl y Society of the Americas Volume 16 20 November 2004 Number 3 Published by the Dragonfl y Society of the Americas The Dragonfly Society Of The Americas Business address: c/o T. Donnelly, 2091 Partridge Lane, Binghamton NY 13903 Executive Council 2003 – 2005 President R. Beckemeyer Wichita, Kansas President Elect S. Krotzer Centreville, Alabama Immediate Past President D. Paulson Seattle, Washington Vice President, Canada R. Cannings Victoria, British Columbia Vice President, Latin America R. Novelo G. Jalapa, Veracruz Secretary S. Dunkle Plano, Texas Treasurer J. Daigle Tallahassee, Florida Editor T. Donnelly Binghamton, New York Regular member J. Abbott Austin, Texas Regular member S. Valley Albany, Oregon Regular member S. Hummel Lake View, Iowa Journals Published By The Society ARGIA, the quarterly news journal of the DSA, is devoted to non-technical papers and news items relating to nearly every aspect of the study of Odonata and the people who are interested in them. The editor especially welcomes reports of studies in progress, news of forthcoming meetings, commentaries on species, habitat conservation, noteworthy occurrences, personal news items, accounts of meetings and collecting trips, and reviews of technical and non-technical publications. Articles for publication in ARGIA should preferably be submitted as hard copy and (if over 500 words) also on floppy disk (3.5 or 5.25). The editor prefers Windows files, preferably written in Word, Word for Windows, WordPerfect, or WordStar. Macintosh Word disks can be handled. All files should be submitted unformatted and without paragraph indents. Each submission should be accompanied by a text (=ASCII) file. Other languages should be submitted only as text (=ASCII) files. Line drawings are acceptable as illustrations. T. Donnelly (address above) is the editor of ARGIA. BULLETIN OF AMERICAN ODONATOLOGY is devoted to studies of Odonata of the New World. This journal considers a wide range of topics for publication, including faunal synopses, behavioral studies, eco- logical studies, etc. TheBAO publishes taxonomic studies but will not consider the publication of new names at any taxonomic level. Enquiries and submission of manuscripts should be made to BAO editor, T. Donnelly, 2091 Partridge Lane, Binghamton NY 13903. Final submissions (after review) should be made on floppy disk, or as an e-mail attachment, as above, with illustrations in final form and preferably adjusted to final size. Membership In The Dragonfly Society Of The Americas Membership in the DSA is open to any person in any country. Dues for individuals in the US, Canada, or Latin America are $15 US for regular membership and $20 US for institutions or contributing membership, payable annually on or before 1 March of membership year. Dues for members in the Old World are $25 US. Dues should be mailed to Jerrell Daigle, 2067 Little River Lane, Tallahassee, FL 32311 TheBULLETIN OF AMERICAN ODONATOLOGY is available by a separate subscription at $15 US for members and $18.75 US for non-members and institutions. Front cover: Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina); photo by June Tveekrem. ARGIA — Th e News Journal of the D.S.A. In Th is Issue You will notice substantial changes in the appearance Th e GLOM meeting this year is in Fort Francis, of this number. Jim Johnson has kindly volunteered his Ontario. Not many miles from Minnesota, this is an considerable expertise to improving the appearance of area of abundant small lakes and bogs. Can you spell our newsletter, and I am grateful to him for this. “Somatochlora”? Th is has been an unpleasant season in much of the Jim Johnson wound up his year with the annual United States. Record colds for the last winter were northwest “Aeshna Blitz”. While those of us every- followed by record rainfalls in much of the east, fol- where else were hanging up our nets, the hardy Ore- lowed, of course, by record hurricanes in Florida. It is gon crowd was having a fi ne time. a wonder that anyone found time for serious dragon- fl y study, but we recorded a record number of records, John Michalski returned from New Guinea a decade if you will. In spite of all the rain and cold, we have after his fi rst glorious trip. He reports that the island has scheduled a marvelous series of meetings for 2005. not changed much in a decade; I suspect it has changed “Tomorrow will be another day.” as Scarlett famously very little in the 32 years since Ailsa and I went there. said . It really is a fabulous place, and I suspect John’s account will send several readers to their travel agent. Th e annual meeting at Arnprior, Ontario, brings the group back to the marvelous northeast, with its huge Did you miss the cicadas? Well, they’ll be back in 17 odonate diversity. Th is is one of the most attractive years. And then you can observe the eff ects of scav- settings that we have chosen for a meeting. Follow- enger predation on them, and how this aff ects drag- ing the post-meeting fi eld trip to the Timiskaming onfl ies, as Richard Orr has done. District, the GLOM meeting in western Ontario could well be the next stop for the more hardy of Th e Ontario group has been busy, and their fi nd- the group. ings will play a prominent role in next year’s annual meeting. Th eir fi nd ofNeurocordulia michaeli pushes Th e 2005 season starts earlier, with the annual the range of this interesting dragonfl y away from the mid-March Eglin AFB trip. Even if all you fi nd is coastal sites where it had previously been found. Who Cordulegaster sayi, the trip itself will be well worth knows where it will be found next? the eff ort. Th e Southeastern trip this year is in late May to Yazoo, Mississippi. Th e trip will be well worth Th e Texas gang really blew our sox off this sum- while, if only so that you can say, “Yazoo”. We promise mer. New state records are fi ne, but they keep com- not to go this year; past attendance by the Donnellys ing up with new national records. Th e Leptobasis has brought snow and freezing weather (but not rain!) melinogaster is all the more astounding, because the to this normally sunny state. species itself was only recently described from Mex- ico! Th is almost puts the fi rst Phyllocycla specimen Th e Northeastern trip in early June will visit one of (Bocanegra and Czaplak) for the US in some sort of the premier sites in North America. Ten Acre Pond, shadow. If it weren’t for that Leptobasis, Phyllocycla in the center of Pennsylvania, has been surveyed regu- would be the bug of the year. larly for fi fty years, with two new species added just last year (this is clearly a national record — perhaps Paul Catling and Brenda Kostiuk add some more pro- it is a world record?). Th is is the site where many vincial records for Saskatchewan, a poorly surveyed members of our organization saw their fi rst Aeshna province. Th e northern records for Stylurus notatus mutata. Th ey are still there, along withAnax longipes, (also the Northwest Territory!) are really remarkable. at one of its few inland sites. Come and fi nd out why We used to think that Ophiogomphus colubrinus was this site remains so very good — and then visit nearby the most northerly of the family. Th ey follow up this Bear Meadows and vicinity, where Tachopteryx and report with another Saskatchewan article. Not fi n- its friends abound. ished yet, they add Enallagma hageni to the North- west Territories’ fauna. Argia 16(3), 2004 1 Kathy Biggs reports some new species for California. The Feds have taken some action to protect Brian Pfeiffer tells us that Vermont was productive Somatochlora hineana habitat. This is a slippery this summer, in spite of the weather. Kreg Ellzey problem, especially because the bug has such special adds Enallagma doubledayi and Bill Mauffray adds requirements. Epitheca semiaquea to the Louisiana list. I promised — and then slipped up — to include the Jim Johnson pushes the range for Argia hinei up to latest common name report in the last ARGIA. Here Utah. The surge of new records reflects the vastly it is. There’ll be a quiz in the morning. increased activity in the past few years. The range maps that I presented in BAO will be obsolete much Bill Mauffray reports that the long-awaited FSCA earlier than I suspected when they appeared. The collection expansion is finally taking place! Whew! Prathers report Erpetogomphus compositus from Col- orado — and add a second locality for Cordulegaster There will be an interesting symposium in Bulgaria dorsalis in that state. next summer. It should be interesting, and I hope it is well attended. We aren’t done with new records. Miguel Fernández- Martínez adds Triacanthagyna septima for the I include a new book on Alberta damselflies and a Dominican Republic. This widespread evening flier paper on Brazilian ode behavior. is still unrecorded over much of an apparently wide range. We have a few TRAMEA contributions this time. The Kathy Biggs contribution on chat groups will Some e-mail communications with Sandy Alexander have some new things for even those of us who of the Baltimore Sun led to the inclusion here of a thought we knew them all. Kreg Ellzey has a program nice article she wrote, highlighting the activities of for ordering your field notes. Bob Solem and Richard Orr. The world is really dis- covering odes, and articles such as this one probably It is a great pleasure for us to welcome the DSA to help a lot to get the word out.