Baskettails
What are they?
Baskettails are closely-related to the emeralds and are placed with them in the family Corduliidae. Though there are seven species in New Jersey, only two have so far been recorded in Cape May County. Baskettails can generally be found hunting low over open, often sandy, areas. When perching, they have a tendency to land on low vegetation and hang vertically, rather than perching on the ground light the small skimmers.
Identification
These insects generally have dark brown to blackish abdomens, marked on the sides with orange. Our two species can be told apart by the amount of black on the bases of the wings and by the shape of the cerci at the distal end of the abdomen.
Uhler's Sundragon Helocordulia uhleri
Length: 1.6 inches. Flight time: Mid April to early July. A local species which can be very common where it occurs and is one of the earliest species on the wing in April. Strongly resembles the baskettails but has a darker, less clearly marked abdomen. Note also the markings at the bases of the wings.
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Mantled Baskettail Epitheca semiaquea
Length: 1.3-1.4 inches. Flight time: Late April to late June. In New Jersey, this is largely a pine barrens species and in Cape May is restricted to the north of the county where it is uncommon.
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Common Baskettail Epitheca cynosura
Length: 1.5-1.7 inches. Flight time: Mid May to early August. A widespread species in New Jersey but considered by most authorities to be absent from the southernmost counties. Single individuals were photographed in Cape May County at Goshen in 2009 (Pat Sutton, pers com.) and at Rio Grande in 2015 (photos shown here) so the species should be kept in mind when identifying baskettails here. There may be a small, resident population, or we may just receive occasional, wandering individuals. Has a stouter abdomen than Slender Baskettail (with a narrowed waist at the top end) and lacks the dark wing patches that are typical of Mantled Baskettail.
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Slender Baskettail Epitheca costalis
Length: 1.6-1.8 inches. Flight time: Mid May to late June. (Stripe-winged Baskettail). A species of uncertain distribution in New Jersey, being on the very north-east edge of its range and perhaps only occuring as an immigrant from the south in favorable years. The alternative name of Stripe-winged Baskettail is often used in books but this name applies only to a very small percentage of females in the far south-west part of the species' range, so is not used here.
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