A publication of the M ichigan O donata Survey Volume 8 Issue 3 W il l iam s o n ia Summer 20 0 4 Epitheca costalis (Stripe-w inged Baskettail) in M ichigan: U pdate By M ark O ’Brien M useum of Z oology, U niversity of M ichigan, A nn A rbor, M I 48109 Last year, I alerted M O S m em bers to the possibility of finding Epi- theca costalis in M ichigan, since N ick D onnelly reported speci- m ens that w ere either true costalis or intergrades betw een costalis and E. cynosura (C om m on Baskettail) in O hio. I sent N ick a box of specim ens to see if there w ere any possible E. costalis from southeast M ichigan. A t first, N ick felt that m ost w ere cynosura w ith a few possible intergrades. A fter som e re- exam ination of the data, N ick sent m e an e-m ail listing E. Stripe-winged Baskettail? This costalis that he identified from low er M ichigan: unidentified Epitheca, photo- graphed by Steve Habbel in Bear Creek Twp., Emmet Co., shows one Mark - I continue to go over the Epitheca. I now think that sev- fairly distinctive characteristic of E. eral of your specimens are costalis. The problem I had was that costalis — a narrowed abdomen at your specimens were at the very north edge of the range and segment 3. thus varied somewhat from more southern specimens. Because (Continued on page 2) Subarctic Darner, A eshna subarctica – a historical oddity? By M ark O ’Brien M useum of Z oology, U niversity of M ichigan, A nn A rbor, M I 48109 Earlier this year, I w as assisting the D N R in determ ining the status of species of O donata that m ay be of special concern w ithin M ichigan (see page 9). There are not m any aeshnids on this list, and one of them is questionable. Subarctic D arner (Aeshna su- barctica) w as reported from M ichigan early in the last century, and the records from the U M M Z C ollection are from a few spots in the U pper Peninsula and Isle R oyale. Keweenaw Co. Isle Royale 16 Aug 1905 Adams MOS0006820 Chippewa Co. Whitefish Point 31 Aug 1916 A.F. Combs MOS0006564 Keweenaw Co. Isle Royale 5 Aug 1905 Adams MOS0006352 Keweenaw Co. Isle Royale Gleason MOS0016796 Keweenaw Co. Isle Royale Gleason MOS0016727 Keweenaw Co. Isle Royale Aug 1905 C.C. Adams UMMZODO-3333 MOS Records of Aeshna subarctica from the UMMZ Insect Collection. (Continued on page 2) W illiamson ia P age 2 Stripe-w inged Baskettail, cont. (Continued from page 1) it occurs in Williams Co., OH, it is not surprising to find it in Michigan. Note that Kormondy essentially omitted the counties where it is most common! If only he had gotten to Sanilac and Tuscola counties! I ended up with four "intergrade" specimens. Two have spotted wings and fit well with cynosura and two have clear wings and fit with costalis. I am not confident that they represent intergrades. For the moment, pending further study, it seems best to call them costalis. I hope to discuss all this in Iowa. Sanilac Co. 5-Jul-97 Obee Rd, ponds on W side, T.V. Healy Sanilac Co. 5-Jul-97 Obee Rd, ponds on W side, T.V. Heatley Tuscola Co. 17-Jun-02 Mayville, 2158 West Saginaw Rd, M. Willard Washtenaw Co. 7-Jun-99 Pittsfield Twp, Sec 26, Peplau's Pond, M. O'Brien Bay Co. 11-Jun-02 Hampton Twp, Knight Rd at Bay Quanicasse SWA, M. Willard Washtenaw Co. 7-Jun-99 Pittsfield Twp, Sec 26, Peplau's Pond, M. O'Brien Lenawee Co. 20-May-98 Onsted SGA, One Mile Lk & Cleveland Lk, M. O'Brien et al Monroe Co. 15-Jul-97 London Twp, T5S R7E S18, across Wanty Rd Rod & Gun Club, J. Farmer Specimens in the UMMZ collection that are E. costalis (first four) or E. costalis/cynosura intergrades. So, it now seem s that w e should add Epitheca costalis to the state list of species, based upon N ick’s analysis. O f course, additional m aterial is w elcom e, especially from the southeastern part of the state. This once again underscores the need to collect speci- m ens and not rely solely on visual records. W ithout the actual specim en, there is no w ay that N ick could have done his analysis. N ote that all the records are recent, perhaps indicating a recent incursion into M ichigan by Epitheca costalis. This also under- scores the need to recheck recently collected sites and to exam ine carefully for specim ens that look a bit different. Epitheca cyno- sura is a com m on species across M ichigan, so m any collectors get one at a site and go on from there. Since it is too late in the season to collect m ore Epitheca, I w ill try and have a com parison chart ready for next spring’s issue of W illiam sonia to show the critical differences betw een E. costalis and cynosura. Perhaps w e’ll be able to add m ore localities and add to our know ledge of this species in M ichigan. Subarctic D arner, cont. (Continued from page 1) The six records (five adults and tw o larvae) are quite old, and in the years since 1916, w e have had num erous collections m ade in the U P (substantial collections have been m ade in A lger, G ogebic, M arquette, O ntanogan, M ackinac, C hippew a, and Schoolcraft counties), yet no m ore A. subarctica have been reported. K orm ondy (1958) cited Byers (1927) as listing A. subarctica from G ogebic C o. H ow ever, there are no specim ens to substantiate Byers’ identification. Byers (1927) also listed A. subarctica from H oughton C o., and I have not been able to find those specim ens. It is certainly possible that he m isidentified som e Aeshna specim ens at that tim e. This species is H olarctic, and know n from areas w ith bogs, m uskeg pools, or deep fens (W alker 1958, C annings and C annings 1997). There are a few records from the eastern U S, but m ost N orth A m erican records are north of the U .S. border and from the Pacific N orthw est (C annings and C annings 1997, D uBois et al. 1999, N ikula et al. 2001, D onnelly 2004). W alker (1958) de- scribed it as flying w ith Aeshna juncea, Som atochlora m inor, Leucorrhinia hudsonica, Coenagrion resolutum and C. interrogatum . This leads m e to w onder if the species should no longer be listed for M ichigan, but classified as a historical record. O bviously, our list of O donata should reflect m ore than just a list of species recorded for the state, but act as a list of species that are know n to occur. This species has turned up in the N ortheast and in W isconsin (D uBois et al. 1999, N ikula et al. 2001), so there is alw ays the possibility that sm all populations have escaped our nets in the U pper Peninsula, or they m ay recolonize the area once again in the future. There is the possibility that A. subarctica is still present on Isle R oyale, though none have turned up in the several other collections m ade there in the past 99 years. I certainly recom m end that the U .S. N ational Park Service support an effort to (Continued on page 3) W illiam sonia age 3 Subarctic Darner, cont. (Continued from page 2) sam ple the rem ote island for m arginal species. The first Common O f course, the question is “w hy?” Perhaps the species used to occur across the U p- Green Darner (Anax per Peninsula, but by the tim e it w as collected in 1905, it w as on its w ay out due to junius) of 2004 was environm ental changes caused by logging practices that greatly affected the conif- erous forests of M ichigan and associated riparian areas. A nother possibility is apparently found by that it w as never really established, but the few specim ens collected m erely reflect Steve Ross at Hay- a few individuals that w ere blow n in from C anada and established a short-lived marsh State Game presence. Area in Mecosta Co. on 16 April, when Populations of living things contract and expand over tim e, and given the dra- the temperature m atic changes in the G reat Lakes R egion over the past 8,000 years, and just as there was 77°F. significantly, the past 150 years, w e should expect that som e species that w ere on the edge of the boreal forest w ill no longer be found in M ichigan. A s w e have not seen any M ichigan Aeshna subarctica since 1916, it should probably have its status changed – to a historical record only. In contrast – Z igzag D arner, Aeshna sitchensis and Sedge D arner, A. juncea, w hich w ere also found in early collections from the U P, have both been collected throughout the last century and during the last 10 years, and are therefore not his- torical species.