August’s Featured Species: Laura’s Clubtail (Stylurus laurae)
Focus stacked image, Laura's Clubtail (Stylurus laurae) male, first sighting, 8-18-2023 Killbuck, Ohio, USA (Photo copyright Jay G. Heiser).
This month’s DSA species focus is Laura’s Clubtail (Stylurus laurae). Laura’s Clubtail is in the family Gomphidae, and is found from Northeastern Texas to the southernmost part of Ontario. It is between two and a quarter and two and three quarters inches long (54-64 cm), and in its northern range flies from July to August (longer in the south). Read on to hear about our August guest blogger Jay Heiser’s ongoing relationship with the species.
An Ohio Surprise
Late one afternoon on August 1, 2018, I was out walking on my property when I noticed something new perched on the side of the creek. It was on some low vegetation just upstream from the township road bridge. With my longest camera lens, I could just barely get an identifiable photo of the strongly backlit dragonfly. Laura’s Clubtail (Stylurus laurae) !
Laura's Clubtail (Stylurus laurae), first sighting, 8-1-2018 Killbuck, Ohio, USA (Photo copyright Jay G. Heiser).
I’d only been systematically observing Odonata for a couple of months and I wasn’t prepared for the minor excitement that ensued online when this turned out to be one of Ohio’s lesser seen species. I returned multiple times, and had sightings on the fourth and the 28th. The tattered wings and the consistency of location suggested that it may have been the same individual.
Although I didn’t find Laura's Clubtail in 2019, in the following four years, I was able to observe much of their adult life cycle. I saw and photographed a recently emerged teneral, flying up out of the creek bed and temporarily posing for a photo before leaving for a couple weeks.
Teneral Laura's Clubtail (Stylurus laurae) emerging from stream, 7-14-2021, Killbuck, Ohio, USA (Photo copyright Jay G. Heiser).
I’ve witnessed males fighting over territory, and I’ve had females whiz around my Muck Boots as they deposited eggs.
Female Laura's Clubtail (Stylurus laurae) resting before resuming egg depositing Laura's Clubtail, 7-18-2020, Killbuck, Ohio, USA (Photo copyright Jay G. Heiser).
I only had single sightings in 2022 and 2023, but the latter posed for me at eye level in some beautiful golden sunlight.
Perched males often buzz their wings, complicating photography, but this last subject stayed so perfectly still that I was able to record a series of focus bracketed photos that very neatly stacked into a single vivid and sharp image.
Male Laura's Clubtail (Stylurus laurae), vibrating its wings, 8-20-20, Killbuck, Ohio, USA (Photo copyright Jay G. Heiser).
Our property is located at the northeastern corner of the unglaciated Appalachian Plateau.Flowing through three miles of active and abandoned agricultural land before reaching us, the water course that defines our place’s northern border is much straighter and deeper than it was before European settlement. Along most of our property, including the places where I’ve found Laura’s Clubtail, the creek is about twice as wide as the embankment is high. It is sunny, with sparse tree cover.
Big Run Creek, 9-2-23, Killbuck, Ohio, USA (Photo copyright Jay G. Heiser).
Starting at the downstream corner of our property, the shallower-banked creek is allowed to meander through shady woods for another mile before joining a tributary of the Muskingum River. The banks are mud, but the stream bed is composed of sand, eroded from the Pennsylvanian age sandstone that comprises our bedrock. It is usually wadable in boots.Over the past five seasons, I’ve spent hours trudging up and down our 200 meters of creek bed, and have managed 19 Laura’s Clubtail sightings.
While I’ve had occasional sightings of many Odonata species within or above the creek, it’s the Ebony Jewelwings (Calopteryx maculata), Variable Dancers (Argia fumipennis), Stream Bluets (Enallagma exsulans), and Ashy Clubtails (Phanogomphus lividus) that have regularly exhibited breeding activity within this habitat. The presence of species such as Least Brook Lampreys (Lampetra aepyptera) and Mudpuppy Salamanders (Necturus maculosus) suggests that in spite of agriculture, the water quality is relatively high.
Sightings peaked at seven in 2020 and have declined since then. It’s tempting to draw some conclusions about our local population, but with such a small set of observations, bias is likely. The species has historically been seen in six Ohio counties, most recently in two or three, and it is reasonable to expect that more breeding populations exist.
Confirmed Ohio Sightings of Laura's Clubtail (Stylurus laurae) January, 2024. Used with permission from the Ohio Odonata Society.
I believe that several factors could explain the relatively low rate of sightings. First, this is a species that spends very little of its adult life in places that are convenient for human observation. Emerging tenerals head up into the tree tops and are only rarely seen away from water.
Second, they have very specific habitat requirements. Laura’s Clubtail, only breeds in creeks and small rivers with clear water and sandy or rocky bottoms, within or close to heavily wooded areas. It’s challenging to observe odonates in some of these locations, and in Ohio, many of these water courses may not be publicly accessible.
Although the overall level of Odonata observation within Ohio has significantly increased since the launch of a new survey in 2016, mine is the only new location to be identified. I hope there are other breeding populations in Ohio and nearby states. Presumably, those locations—if they exist—are not subject to high levels of attention from those actively looking for Odonata and publicly recording their sightings.
Much of Ohio has been "rewilding", which has been a boon for many species, but evidence suggests that this species doesn’t travel very far, inhibiting its ability to recolonize what may have been previous breeding areas. Confronted with significant habitat change and increasing climate change, this species’ sustainability in Ohio— and indeed in its entire range—remains an unanswered question.
A pair of conservation organizations are planning to restore a channelized creek less than two miles away (as the dragonfly flies). I’ve been working to determine which odonate species are currently in the several hundred acres of associated property, much of which is also slated for some restoration. Who knows what species might choose to recolonize it? Perhaps it would be a useful place to experiment with Stylurus relocation. In the meantime, my plan is to continue monitoring the creek in my own backyard, while encouraging other people to identify and explore new locations.
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Jay Heiser recently retired as an IT Analyst at Gartner, where he was responsible for Cybesecurity research. He is the webmaster for the Ohio Odonata Society (www.ohioodonatasociety.org, and can be reached at jay@heiserhollow.net.
