Spiny Baskettail

Epitheca spinigera

The Spiny Baskettail is a special dragonfly with long, slender wings and a spiny body. It loves to fly around wetlands and is often seen darting over the water.

Habitat: Wetlands

Appearance

The Spiny Baskettail is a medium-sized dragonfly with a dark, often metallic green or bronze body. Its transparent wings may have a subtle amber tint at the base. Males have distinctive spiny claspers at the end of their abdomen, giving them their unique name.

KingdomAnimaliaPhylumArthropodaClassInsectaOrderOdonataFamilyCorduliidaeGenusEpitheca

Spiny Baskettail

Interesting facts

Its babies, called nymphs, live underwater for years before they become flying adults!

Male Spiny Baskettails use special 'baskets' on their tail to grab females during mating!

Some adult Spiny Baskettails only live a few weeks, but they make every moment count!

These dragonflies can hover perfectly still in mid-air, like a tiny helicopter!

Special abilities

Spiny Baskettail can catch tiny flying insects mid-air with incredible agility, thanks to its powerful wings and basket-like legs.

Its larvae can breathe underwater and ambush smaller aquatic creatures, using a unique hinged jaw to snatch prey quickly.

Spiny Baskettail has huge compound eyes covering most of its head, giving it nearly 360-degree vision to spot prey and predators.

Measurements & details

Wingspan: 60-80 mm
Size: 40-50 mm
Lifespan: 14-45 days
Flight Speed: 40 km/h
Leg Count: 6

Diet & Feeding

This swift insect preys on smaller flying insects, while its young hunt underwater.

Age differences: Larvae are aquatic predators, adults hunt flying insects.

Primary Foods

Mosquitoes
Midges
Flies
Mayflies
Gnats
Small moths

Foraging Method

Pursuit

Ecological connections

eaten by

Eastern Phoebe

Sayornis phoebe

Adult dragonflies are snatched from the air by this bird.

eaten by

Largemouth Bass

Micropterus salmoides

Fish eat Spiny Baskettail larvae that live in the water.

hunts

Mosquito

Aedes aegypti

Adult baskettails are voracious predators of flying mosquitoes.

Traits

Aerial

Aerial creatures spend a significant portion of their lives airborne, utilizing flight for various activities such as hunting, migration, or nesting.

Insectivorous

This trait identifies organisms whose diet primarily consists of insects and other small invertebrates.

Spiky/Thorny

Possessing sharp, pointed projections or spines on the body or surface.

Wetland

This habitat trait identifies species found in wetlands, which are areas of land saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, including marshes, swamps, and bogs.