Four-spotted Pennant - Brachymesia gravida (Calvert, 1890)

This is a species of concern. Please report any encounters to Odonata Central.

Range & Habitat:
Sporadically reported from Cape May and Cumberland counties along the coast; it also occurs across Delaware Bay in brackish marshes.

ponds and marshes, often brackish or near the coast

Flight Season:
Early Date: 22 July
Late Date: 2 September

Flight season charts created from records in the official database maintained by Allen Barlow.

Male Dorsal - Photo by Jim Bangma
Click on a thumbnail to view full-size photo
Description:
Adult males are dark blue with a spot near the midpoint of each wing and white stigmas. Females and young males are patterned in brown and yellow, but are distinguished by the wing spots and white stigmas. Behaves like a typical pennant, usually perching at the very top of branches and stems
Slaty Skimmer lacks the wing parkings and has dark stigmas. Several species of Small Pennant have wing markings but are much smaller.

Conservation Status:
State: S1S2 Imperiled to critically imperiled in New Jersey
Global: G5 Secure globally, but possibly rare in parts of its range