Complete Guide To The Common Green Darner Dragonfly

Common Green Darner Notes

• Common Green Darner dragonflies are the largest and most common darner dragonfly in North Carolina.
  • They can be found throughout the state around small and large bodies of still water and often travel some distance inland.
  • They’re one of the earliest dragonflies to become active in the spring.
• Common Green Darner dragonflies are highly migratory.
  • These dragonflies travel hundreds to thousands of kilometers from the southern Canada to the south (into Mexico) during fall migration (May 2013, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-012-9540-x).
  • Many hundreds of thousands to more than a million individual dragonflies come together in swarms to migrate in response to seasonal changes (Russell et al. 1998, https://doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031(1998)140[0325:MSMODO]2.0.CO;2).
• Common Green Darner dragonflies fly from morning through late afternoon and rarely perch until the end of the day.
  • They roost in low weeds or grass rather than high in tree canopy like most other dragonflies.
• Common Green Darner dragonflies are powerful predators that can take large prey.
  • They are major predator of their fellow dragonflies, even large species like mosaic dragonflies.
  • Common Green Darners also hunt and feed on distasteful butterflies such as Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus).
• Common Green Darner dragonflies are the only darner species to oviposit in tandem.
  • Single males ram into tandem pairs to try and separate them (Dunkle 2000).