Complete Guide To The Black Saddlebags Dragonfly

Black Saddlebags Dragonfly Notes

• In North Carolina, Black Saddlebags dragonflies fly from March to November.
  • Black Saddlebags dragonflies migrate with the seasons.
• Look for these insects throughout the state around marshy ponds, water-filled ditches, retaining ponds, and lakes with abundant vegetation and still water.
• Black Saddlebags dragonflies fly along the shores of their freshwater territories, over open water.
  • They fly at around 17 mph (Dunkle 2000) and usually at chest height.
  • Males fly long paths of more than 100 feet (30.5 m) (Paulson 2011).
• Black Saddlebags dragonflies alternate flying in tandem and separating for brief periods to lay their eggs.
  • After mating, the females must lay their eggs in open water.
  • Black Saddlebag males grip the females’ heads with their terminal abdominal appendages in a position known as “tandem”.
  • The pairs fly in tandem across open water and pause briefly to deposit eggs.
    • Males release the females temporarily so the females can lay the eggs but hover above her.
    • As soon as the females deposit some eggs by dipping their abdominal tips under the water’s surface, the males clasp the females’ heads into tandem once again.
    • The pairs repeat the process until the eggs are laid (Paulson 2011).
  • One study researched the factors affecting oviposition sites chosen by 94 tandem pairs of Black Saddlebags dragonflies. They found that:
    • Males hover approximately 25 cm above the water’s surface when they release the females.
    • A tandem connection lasted 379.3 seconds on average.
    • Females oviposited their eggs within an average of 4.0 meters from the shore of the research pond, just beyond the edge of the vegetation (Thornton and Switzer 2015, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iev035).
  • Saddlebags dragonflies have been called “Dancing Gliders”, thanks to this movement pattern and behavior (Dunkle 2000).