Green snaketail facts for kids
Ophiogomphus cecilia, also known as the green snaketail, green gomphid, or green club-tailed dragonfly, is a type of dragonfly. It belongs to the family Gomphidae, which are often called club-tailed dragonflies.
Quick facts for kids Green snaketail |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Odonata |
| Infraorder: | Anisoptera |
| Family: | Gomphidae |
| Genus: | Ophiogomphus |
| Species: |
O. cecilia
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| Binomial name | |
| Ophiogomphus cecilia (Fourcroy, 1785)
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Contents
What Does the Green Snaketail Look Like?
The green snaketail is the only type of snaketail dragonfly found in Europe. It looks a lot like other large clubtail dragonflies.
Colors and Markings
Adult green snaketails have a bright apple-green color on their front body. They have green eyes and a green face. Their chest area (thorax) is green with thin black lines on the top and sides.
The green color extends to the second part of their abdomen. The rest of the abdomen has yellow patterns that are broken up. These yellow spots are often wider than on other clubtails. The end of their abdomen (segments S8-9) is slightly club-shaped. Their legs are mostly yellow.
Male and Female Differences
Male green snaketails have short, yellowish parts at the end of their abdomen. Female green snaketails have wider yellow markings on their abdomen compared to males.
Other Features
You might notice two tiny "crests" on the back of their head, between their eyes. Some individuals might have fewer black lines on their chest. Young green snaketails (immatures) do not have any green color.
Where Do Green Snaketails Live?
The green snaketail dragonfly is found across many countries.
Countries Where They Live
They live in Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Main Distribution Areas
Their main home is in Eastern Europe. In Asia, you can find them as far east as Kazakhstan. To the north, they reach northern Finland and northern Sweden. There are not many reports of them in western and southern Europe. In Germany, they are mostly found in the eastern parts of the country.
Where Green Snaketails Live (Habitat)
Green snaketails like specific kinds of places to live.
Preferred Waterways
They prefer creeks with sandy or gravelly bottoms. These waterways should have a moderate flow of water and be shallow. They also like areas that are partly shaded by trees on the banks. It's important that the water has little pollution. Most of them are found in rivers and streams.
Larval Habitat
The width of the water does not seem to matter much for the young dragonflies (larvae). They can grow in brooks that are 1.5 meters wide or in rivers that are 50 meters wide. For example, many young green snaketails were found in a mill stream that was about five meters wide. This stream had a muddy to sandy bottom and slow-flowing water. Plants like Sparganium and Potamogeton grew there, and about 30% of the area was shaded by nearby forests.
Green Snaketail Life Cycle and Behavior
Green snaketails have an interesting life cycle and specific behaviors.
When They Appear
In some areas, green snaketails start to emerge as adults in late May. They continue to emerge until August. The busiest time for them to fly around is from late July to mid-August. You might still see them flying until early October.
Male Behavior
Adult male green snaketails often sit in sunny spots above running water. They also like to perch on stalks, branches, stones, or sandbanks that stick out over the water. The water near these spots usually flows quickly over a shallow, sandy bottom.
Males often try to defend these sitting spots from other green snaketails. However, they usually leave the spot quickly without a fight. They don't seem to set up permanent territories, but some males might be seen in the same part of a river for several days. They avoid shaded areas and usually fly around areas with wooded banks.
Traveling Away from Water
Even after they become adults, these dragonflies sometimes fly far away from the water where they hatched. Males have been found up to two kilometers away from rivers, in sunny hillside forests. Dragonflies caught far away have later been seen back along the river.
Female Behavior and Reproduction
When researchers marked adult dragonflies, they found many more males than females near the water. This is because females are very secretive when they lay their eggs. They usually lay their eggs hidden in thick plants. They quickly lay egg balls by dipping the end of their abdomen into the water many times. After laying eggs, they immediately leave the water. It seems that females might even visit the breeding waters at different times or in different places than the males.
Larval Life
The young green snaketails (larvae) can live in large numbers. In one stream, up to ten larvae were found in just one square meter. Larvae hunt for food both by burrowing in the bottom and by moving on the surface. They also hide and hunt, where only the front of their head and a small part of their tail stick out from the sand.
Larval development usually takes three or four years, but sometimes it can be as short as two years. The larvae emerge from the water close to the water's edge. The number of male and female larvae that emerge is usually about equal. The places where larvae emerge and where adults fly around are not always the same. Larval skins can be found in places where adult dragonflies are only seen sometimes.
 | Leon Lynch |
 | Milton P. Webster |
 | Ferdinand Smith |
