Nebraska Dragonflies and Damselflies

Russet-tipped Clubtail

Stylurus plagiatus

Selys, 1854

The Russet-tipped Clubtail is a member of the Stylurus, or Hanging Clubtail genus. These clubtails often perch on leaves, which tip with their weight, leaving the dragonflies hanging nearly vertically. Males patrol large areas over water and may hover motionless before zipping off to a new location.

The Russet-tipped Clubtail is long and slender with a green and black (or brown) striped thorax and a russet to yellow club. The green markings on top of the thorax may be in the shape of a W. The eyes may be blue, turquoise or green. Abdominal segments 8 and 9 have yellow spots on the sides and top, and the legs are two-tone. The female is nearly clubless but is marked much like the male.

Rare. Nebraska is at the northern edge of a range extending from the Atlantic and Gulf Coast north to New York and Minnesota and west to Iowa and central Kansas. The two Nebraska records are on the western and northern edge of the range - a teneral male collected July 7, 2005, at Rose Creek (near Reynolds), Jefferson County, and a male photographed south of Gothenburg, Dawson County, on Sept. 1, 2014. The first was in thick roadside vegetation back from the small stream and the second was one of several in thick weeds back from a canal.

Green indicates accepted county record (specimen or photograph).
Yellow indicates sight record only.