Wednesday, June 24, 2009
June's Featured WI Endangered Species: St. Croix Snaketail
My thoughts about the St. Croix Snaketail (Ophiogomphus susbehcha, meaning of the snaketail genus, and the species Lakota Sioux for dragonfly), the endangered WI species I chose for June since its peak flight time is now!
1. Do you know what makes a dragonfly a dragonfly? Do you know what makes the St. Croix Snaketail unique?
Find some general information here: See UW-Madison Entomology website for dragonflies’ status, habitat, range and flight times http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/wes/pubs/dragonfly.htm , the WI DNR’s http://www.dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/invertebrates/dragonflies/ for what makes dragonflies what they are as well as info about other endangered and threatened dragonflies, the National Park Service’s http://www.nps.gov/sacn/naturescience/upload/Dragonfly%20factsheet-2.pdf for a dragonflies’ life cycle, from eggs, larvae to adult, and the discovery of the St. Croix,
and Integrated Taxonomic Information System’s http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=592874 for taxonomy.
Specific information about the St. Croix Snaketail itself is here: Explore the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center site
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/insects/dfly/wi/249.htm for a map of where it’s found in WI, the National Park Service’s St. Croix National Scenic Riverway http://www.nps.gov/sacn/naturescience/insects.htm and the DNR’s and Terrestrial Resources Inventory site http://wiatri.net/inventory/odonata/SpeciesDetail.cfm?TaxaID=101 for wonderful St. Croix photos, status, charachteristics, habitat, map and flight season.
2. There are still new things to discover – even in today’s WI!
Read about the inspiring discovery of the St. Croix Snaketail by William Smith in 1989, whose keen observation of strange “exuviae” (in this case, skins of the last larval stage of the dragonflies, as they leave the water for dry land) led to his recognition that he found a new species of dragonfly. Read The WI DNR http://www.lake-link.com/news/headline.cfm?NewsHeadlinesID=2705 , the
Wisconsin State Journal: http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/199198
and the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/12/science/a-delicate-creature-yields-its-secrets.html provide accounts.
3. Which leads me to the observation that this dragonfly is the first creature I’ve featured that is popular enough to hit the mainstream media, to be used as a fundraising tool by the National Park Service http://www.eparks.com/store/product/65124/St.-Croix-Riverway-Pin/ and be the focus of a popular high school research project. Read the next to last article http://cbm.wiatri.net/Partnership/abstracts04.cfm in which the Grantsburg High School students collaborate with the Citizen Based Monitoring Network of WI. Go to http://web.gk12.net/ to read about the students’ experience at the Great Lakes Odonata Meeting, a collaborative event between experts and amateurs.
Check out some gorgeous photos of dragonflies here, and a photo of the exuviae. I got the photo that my drawing is based on from this website!
Is there something that draws us to creatures that fly, earthbound as we are without artificial means – and especially to dragonflies. With their unique form, they seem magical, almost fairylike, as if they could have come from an enchanted land.
4. This creature has very specific needs, detailed in this WI DNR fact sheet http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/invertebrates/dragonflies/stcroix.htm .
Ophiogomphus are quite sensitive– the larvae can only live in a certain habitat with clean gravel of a certain size, in well-aerated warm water streams, and are very sensitive to water quality.
And, Snaketail’s are uniquely sensitive within the Ophiogomphus genus – they prefer larger, deep streams that flow fast and clean, with much cobble and gravel with sand substrates, bounded by largely forested watersheds.
5. Dams, organic pollution, inorganic sediments, waterway modifications, and shoreline modifications are each factors which could cause the extinction of the St. Croix Snaketail.
6. What can you do to help? If you live near their habitat, don’t use fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Keep your property forested. Oppose development and pollution. Vote accordingly. Amaze and educate your friends and family with the story of this unique creature! Support your WI DNR at http://www.dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/support/how_you_can_help.htm and the NPS http://www.eparks.com/store/product/65124/St.-Croix-Riverway-Pin/ , as well as River Alliance of Wisconsin http://www.wisconsinrivers.org/index.php?page=content&mode=view&id=83 . Even if you live elsewhere, join a local conservation organization to make a difference where you live. Think and act as if what you do on your own land, in your own city makes a difference, because it does! Help change the world!!
1. Do you know what makes a dragonfly a dragonfly? Do you know what makes the St. Croix Snaketail unique?
Find some general information here: See UW-Madison Entomology website for dragonflies’ status, habitat, range and flight times http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/wes/pubs/dragonfly.htm , the WI DNR’s http://www.dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/invertebrates/dragonflies/ for what makes dragonflies what they are as well as info about other endangered and threatened dragonflies, the National Park Service’s http://www.nps.gov/sacn/naturescience/upload/Dragonfly%20factsheet-2.pdf for a dragonflies’ life cycle, from eggs, larvae to adult, and the discovery of the St. Croix,
and Integrated Taxonomic Information System’s http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=592874 for taxonomy.
Specific information about the St. Croix Snaketail itself is here: Explore the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center site
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/insects/dfly/wi/249.htm for a map of where it’s found in WI, the National Park Service’s St. Croix National Scenic Riverway http://www.nps.gov/sacn/naturescience/insects.htm and the DNR’s and Terrestrial Resources Inventory site http://wiatri.net/inventory/odonata/SpeciesDetail.cfm?TaxaID=101 for wonderful St. Croix photos, status, charachteristics, habitat, map and flight season.
2. There are still new things to discover – even in today’s WI!
Read about the inspiring discovery of the St. Croix Snaketail by William Smith in 1989, whose keen observation of strange “exuviae” (in this case, skins of the last larval stage of the dragonflies, as they leave the water for dry land) led to his recognition that he found a new species of dragonfly. Read The WI DNR http://www.lake-link.com/news/headline.cfm?NewsHeadlinesID=2705 , the
Wisconsin State Journal: http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/199198
and the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/12/science/a-delicate-creature-yields-its-secrets.html provide accounts.
3. Which leads me to the observation that this dragonfly is the first creature I’ve featured that is popular enough to hit the mainstream media, to be used as a fundraising tool by the National Park Service http://www.eparks.com/store/product/65124/St.-Croix-Riverway-Pin/ and be the focus of a popular high school research project. Read the next to last article http://cbm.wiatri.net/Partnership/abstracts04.cfm in which the Grantsburg High School students collaborate with the Citizen Based Monitoring Network of WI. Go to http://web.gk12.net/ to read about the students’ experience at the Great Lakes Odonata Meeting, a collaborative event between experts and amateurs.
Check out some gorgeous photos of dragonflies here, and a photo of the exuviae. I got the photo that my drawing is based on from this website!
Is there something that draws us to creatures that fly, earthbound as we are without artificial means – and especially to dragonflies. With their unique form, they seem magical, almost fairylike, as if they could have come from an enchanted land.
4. This creature has very specific needs, detailed in this WI DNR fact sheet http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/invertebrates/dragonflies/stcroix.htm .
Ophiogomphus are quite sensitive– the larvae can only live in a certain habitat with clean gravel of a certain size, in well-aerated warm water streams, and are very sensitive to water quality.
And, Snaketail’s are uniquely sensitive within the Ophiogomphus genus – they prefer larger, deep streams that flow fast and clean, with much cobble and gravel with sand substrates, bounded by largely forested watersheds.
5. Dams, organic pollution, inorganic sediments, waterway modifications, and shoreline modifications are each factors which could cause the extinction of the St. Croix Snaketail.
6. What can you do to help? If you live near their habitat, don’t use fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Keep your property forested. Oppose development and pollution. Vote accordingly. Amaze and educate your friends and family with the story of this unique creature! Support your WI DNR at http://www.dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/support/how_you_can_help.htm and the NPS http://www.eparks.com/store/product/65124/St.-Croix-Riverway-Pin/ , as well as River Alliance of Wisconsin http://www.wisconsinrivers.org/index.php?page=content&mode=view&id=83 . Even if you live elsewhere, join a local conservation organization to make a difference where you live. Think and act as if what you do on your own land, in your own city makes a difference, because it does! Help change the world!!
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