Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Male Arrowhead Spiketail – trans-Canada Trail

East of Tweed along the trans-Canada Trail are three sand-bottomed woodland streams that are known to support Spiketails. There's a fourth habitat that looks eminently suitable but it hasn't been investigated as yet.

In early June of 2011 a female Arrowhead Spiketail was photographed near Alexander Street. Last August, Cordulegaster naiads – and plenty of them! – were discovered inhabiting another stream (they were still doing all right in mid-January). And earlier this spring naiads were found in a creek near the intersection of Sulphide Road and the trans-Canada Trail.

Studies of the larvae proved inconclusive as to whether they might be Arrowhead Spiketails (Cordulegaster obliqua) or Twin-spotted Spiketail (Cordulegaster maculata) but a couple of days ago Mother Nature gave a hint as to which species it might be ...


Of course, this doesn't rule out the possibilty that Twin-spotted Spiketails might be co-habiting with their cousins.