Notes on Dragonflies in the Vicinity of New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report on the unusual dragonfly population near New Smyrna Beach, Fla., during the summer of 1943, and especially on the tremendous swarms of one species during July and August of that year. Observations on abundance and distribution of odonates made in this area during June and early July of 1942 are included in an attempt to picture the population present during normal years. New Smyrna Beach is located in about the middle of the Florida Atlantic Coast some 16 miles south of Daytona Beach. These observations covered the area from the Tomoka River marshes just a few miles north of Daytona Beach to the Oak Hill marshes about 15 miles south of New Smyrna Beach. This region contains large areas of salt marsh, both on the mainland and on the numerous islands formed by Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River (land-locked salt-water lagoons), that are excellent breeding grounds for the salt-marsh mosquitoes (Aedes sollicitans (Walk.) and A. taeniorhynchus (Wied.). The mainland, just west of the coastal marshes, contains numerous permanent and' semipermanent fresh-water habitats capable of breeding dragonflies. DRAGONFLY POPULATION DURING 1942.-The following is a list of dragonfly species and their relative abundance noted in the coastal areas during June and July, 1942. No species was observed in sufficient numbers to be listed as abundant. VERY COMMON: Erythrodiplax berenice (Drury) and Tramea carolina (Linnaeus). COMMON: Anax junius (Drury), Coryphaeschna ingens (Rambur), Libellula auripennis Burmeister, Erythemis simplicicollis (Say), and Erythrodiplax connada minuscula (Rambur). OCCASIONAL: Celithemis eponina (Drury), Libellula vibrans Fabricius, Pachydiplax longipennis (Burmeister), Cannacria gravida (Calvert), Enxallagma civile (Hagen), and Ischnura ramburii Selys. RARE: Celithemis ornata (Rambur), Nehalennia integricollis