Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge

Alaska’s Dazzling Dragons and Damsels

Up-close look at the order Odonata

There are roughly 35 dragonfly species known to occur in Alaska. They range in size from tiny metallic-green sedge sprites to the five-inch-long lake darner. With 26 species documented to date, one of the top areas for dragonfly diversity in Alaska is Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge.

Digital depiction of a lake darner dragonfly. 🎨 USFWS/Sara Wolman

“Today I saw the dragonfly…He dried his wings: like gauze they grew; Thro’ crofts and pastures wet with dew. A living flash of light he flew!”

— The Dragonfly, by Alfred Lord Tennyson

A frosty dragonfly in Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge. Efforts to document the odonate fauna of this refuge began in 2004. 📷 USFWS/Ronan Dugan

Straddling the Arctic Circle is 1.6 million acre Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge, home to a large diversity of dragonflies. 📷 USFWS

From sedge sprites to lake darners, Alaska’s dragonflies come in all shapes and sizes! 📷 Bob Armstrong

Dragonfly Basics

Aquatic nymph to aerial hunter

Dragonflies spend most of their lives under water as larvae where they predate on aquatic insects—and occasionally even small fish.

Swing and a miss! A stickleback barely evades a larval dragonfly. 📷 Bob Armstrong

A dragonfly larvae emerging onto a lily. 📷 Bob Armstrong

Some species spend years in this aquatic larval form before they climb out and metamorphose into adults. If you’re familiar with the cicadas of the eastern United States, this lengthy larval stage may sound vaguely similar.

An American emerald emerging and metamorphosing. 📷 Bob Armstrong

Empty dragonfly exoskeletons collected from an Anchorage lake. 📷 Katrina Liebich

Adult dragonflies only live a month or two as the aerial hunters we see in summer.

A four-spotted skimmer in flight; a massive lake darner dwarfs the yellow jacket it’s eating. 📷 Bob Armstrong

During Alaska’s short, but sweet summer, you’ll see the males feeding in meadows and along roadsides, and roving the shorelines and sedges to find mates. Females are more secretive and won’t go near water until they’re ready to mate.

Black meadowhawks mating in Fairbanks; a sedge darner laying her eggs in the water. 📷 Bob Armstrong

It’s now up to the next generation of dragonflies to develop and carry on this circle of life.

Here’s looking at you, kid. An American emerald dragonfly. 📷 Bob Armstrong

Dragonflies v. Damselflies

Dragonflies (suborder Epiprocta) are usually larger, with eyes together and wings up or out at rest. Damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are usually smaller with eyes placed apart and wings along their body at rest.

Clockwise from top left: A northern bluet damselfly, Whitehouse’s emerald dragonfly; female Hudsonian whiteface dragonfly; A male taiga bluet damselfly. Note the wing positioning at rest. 📷 Bob Armstrong

Northern bluets mating. This is the wheel position. The male dragonfly transfers a sperm packet from the tip of his abdomen to behind the thorax. The female will bend her abdomen down and forward to lock into the male. 📷 Bob Armstrong

Dragonflies in the Far North

Alaska’s major groups include the Skimmers (whitefaces and king skimmers), Darners, Emeralds, Narrow-winged Damselflies (bluets) and Spreadwing Damselflies. The common green darner and spot winged glider are only occasional visitors and the Pacific spiketail record hasn’t been confirmed since the 1800s.

A four-spotted skimmer on a classic Alaska plant: lupine. 📷 Bob Armstrong

DYK Alaska’s official state insect is a dragonfly? During the 1993–1994 school year, students from across the state cast their vote for the four-spotted skimmer. One Aniak student commented, “Dragonflies eat mosquitoes, one of the state’s most annoying pests!”

Dragonflies are also an important food source for other wildlife, like this olive-sided flycatcher (with a darner dragonfly). 📷 Bob Armstrong

Discoveries and Dragonfly Day Celebrations

Back in 2004, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife biologist Lisa Saperstein set out to better inventory insects in Kanuti Refuge. Having heard of the Dragonflies of Alaska field guide, Lisa sent several dragonfly specimens to one of the authors, John Hudson, to have them identified. John came across a species of damselfly among those in the sample that was different from any he had seen before in Alaska. It was a prairie bluet, a species not seen before in the state. The find prompted a closer look at dragonfly diversity in the refuge.

A Hudsonian whiteface dragonfly. 📷 Bob Armstrong

After several dragonfly collecting trips, Kanuti Refuge now holds the state record for the most dragonfly species of any area at 26. Kanuti Refuge owes its rich dragonfly diversity to the abundant and diverse wetlands within the refuge.

Every year since 2008 the refuge has hosted a Dragonfly Day in Fairbanks and/or virtually to celebrate dragonflies and Kanuti Refuge.

“Dragonflies are fun to catch and you can look at them and set them free without injuring them.”— Lisa Saperstein, Wildlife Biologist

Alaska’s dragonflies dazzle the imagination. 📷 Katrina Liebich

Compiled by Katrina Liebich (Alaska Digital Media Manager, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) with Environmental Education Specialist Allyssa Morris, Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge.

In Alaska we are shared stewards of world-renowned natural resources and our nation’s last true wild places. Our hope is that each generation has the opportunity to live with, live from, discover and enjoy the wildness of this awe-inspiring land and the people who love and depend on it.

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