''Aeshna subarctica'', the subarctic darner or bog hawker, is a species of dragonfly belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Aeshnidae Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies, found nearly worldwide, with more than 50 genera and over 450 species. The family includes some of the largest dragonflies. Description Common worldwide or nearl ...

, the darners and hawkers. This

holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...

dragonfly is found in Europe and Northern Asia (excluding China) and North America.

Taxonomy

''Aeshna subarctica'' was first formally described in 1908 by the Canadian

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

Edmund Murton Walker Edmund Murton Walker (October 5, 1877 – February 14, 1969) was a Canadian entomologist. He described the genus ''Grylloblatta'' in 1914 which he then considered as a member of the Orthoptera and later placed it in a separate order Grylloblattode ...

with its type locality given as

Nipigon Nipigon () is a township in Thunder Bay District, Northwestern Ontario, Canada, located along the west side of the Nipigon River and south of the small Helen Lake running between Lake Nipigon and Lake Superior. Lake Nipigon is located approxima ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. This species is classified in the genus ''

Aeshna ''Aeshna'', or the mosaic darners, is a genus of dragonfly, dragonflies from the family Aeshnidae. Species within this genus are generally known as "hawkers" (Old World) or "darners" (New World). Description These are relatively large drag ...

'' in the family Aeshnidae, the hawkers, in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Odonata Odonata is an order of predatory flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies (as well as the '' Epiophlebia'' damsel-dragonflies). The two major groups are distinguished with dragonflies (Anisoptera) usually being bulkier with ...

, the dragonflies and damselflies. Aeshna subarctica m

Subspecies

''Aeshna subarctica'' is further classified into two subspecies: * ''Aeshna subarctica elisabethae'' Djakonov, 1922 - northern Europe and Asia * ''Aeshna subarctica subarctica'' Walker, 1908 - Northern North America

Distribution and habitat

''Aeshna subarctica'' has a holarctic distribution with the nominate subspecies being found in Alaska, Canada south as far as

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. The Eurasian subspecies is found in the northern parts of Europe and Asia from most of

Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia (Finnish language, Finnish, Swedish language, Swedish and ; ), or the Fennoscandian Peninsula, is a peninsula in Europe which includes the Scandinavian Peninsula, Scandinavian and Kola Peninsula, Kola peninsulas, mainland ...

to the

Bering Strait The Bering Strait ( , ; ) is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The present Russia–United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58' ...

, as well as the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

, Poland, northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. To the south of the main range this species can befound in the higher mountains of Europe, although this species is difficult to separate from the sympatric

common hawker The common hawker, moorland hawker or sedge darner (''Aeshna juncea'') is one of the larger species of hawker dragonflies. It is native to Palearctic (from Ireland to Japan) and northern North America. The flight period is from June to early Octo ...

(''A. juncaea'') which may cause under-recording. In Europe bog hawkers have been discovered as far south as the

Italian Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

and Romanian

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...

. The bog hawker is restricted to acidic moors and

Sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since ...

peat bogs where there are naturally flooded depressions or peat diggings. This species prefers habitats where there is some floating sphagnum moss, a habitat called "sphagnum soup", used by the larvae. It is a lowland species in the north of but is restricted to mountains, mostly at altitudes greater than in the south.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1621978 Aeshnidae Articles created by Qbugbot Insects described in 1908

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Distribution and habitat

References

Further reading

External links