Frosted Whiteface

 

As always, click the image to enlarge

A male Frosted Whiteface (Leucorrhinia frigida) in repose. On a recent July trip to Michigan's northern limits - the Keweenaw (key-wuh-na) Peninsula, Copper Harbor and vicinity - we saw many northern species that reach their southern limits in northern Ohio. This beautiful dragonfly was one of them, and it was very common in that state up north. So were other northern dragons including the Chalk-fronted Corporal (Ladona julia), which was often in association with the whiteface. Both of these dragonflies are listed as endangered in Ohio, and they occur very sparingly in a few of our northernmost counties.

It isn't hard to see how the Frosted Whiteface got its name. But the name is derived from the appearance of the male, as is so often the case with various faunal species. Females are often showier, though, at least in my estimation, and we shall have a look at a female Frosted Whiteface to see if that might be the case in this species.

Here she is, and she's a showstopper. Look at those gorgeous brown eyes, and black and lemon body. This trip was a wonderful opportunity to become more familiar with these northern dragons, which were everywhere. In Ohio, the odonatologist must make special efforts to clap eyes on a Frosted Whiteface, and he/she will not see very many.

I suspect that this species and its northern brethren that are barely hanging on in Ohio will probably vanish before long, as their ranges shift northward. There is abundant evidence of climate-caused distributional shifts in many insect species, both northern species retreating northward, and southern species rapidly advancing northward. Such range expansions/contractions have always occurred, as climates have always changed. But what we are seeing now seems accelerated and is surely induced by human-caused global warming.

Someday I will try to make time to share more examples of this.