2023 September 18

Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed the colourful bee below in the Martindale Valley on September 14.

Agapostemon virescens (Hym.: Halictidae) Marie O’Shaughnessy

Kirsten Mills and Jeff Gaskin found this damselfly on the Metchosin Golf Course, Pears Road, on September 14.  Nearly all of the damselfly photographs that have appeared on this site have been of the Family Coenagrionidae, so it is good to see a different Family represented.  This is a Spreadwing  of the Family Lestidae – you can see why they are called spreadwings.   Dr Rob Cannings writes that it is a male — and almost certainly Lestes disjunctus.  For absolute certainty he would need to see a dorsal view showing the exact shape of the paraprocts – but other aspects (e.g., thorax pattern) indicate L. disjunctus.

Northern Spreadwing  Lestes disjunctus  (Odo.: Lestidae)  Kirsten Mills