Field Guide

The widow skimmer has distinctive dark wing markings that seem like mourning garb. Mature males have white areas in the center of their wings, beside the dark patches, while females and immature males lack the white patches.

The cobra clubtail is in the family of dragonflies called clubtails, named for the enlarged abdomen tip. There are about 100 species in this dragonfly family in North America north of Mexico.

The Halloween pennant is one of the more common members of its genus. Distinctive wing markings include a complete brown band (not just a spot) positioned just short of the wing tip.

Blue dasher males and females look quite different. Both have a white face, a black abdomen tip, and slanted black and yellow stripes on the thorax. But males are blue and females are striped black and yellow.

The black saddlebags is a dragonfly with memorable markings. Two dark blotches on each hindwing look like saddlebags.

The twelve-spotted skimmer has twelve brown wing spots. Males, like this one, have eight additional spots that are white. Females lack the white spots.

The female black giant ichneumon wasp deposits her eggs through wood. The larvae eat the grubs of wood-boring insects.

The female long-tailed giant ichneumon wasp deposits her eggs through wood. The larvae eat the grubs of the pigeon tremex, a wood-boring horntail wasp.

About six species of bird grasshoppers occur in Missouri. Most are attractively marked, large insects that gracefully fly from danger, almost like birds.