ARROW CLUBTAIL & Elusive Clubtail
I apologize for the quality of these shots, but Arrow Clubtails are VERY difficult to capture in flight. They spend most of their time perched high in trees, and they only occasionally come down to the river for quick, sweeping patrols.
Arrow Clubtails belong to the family of hanging clubtails. They have green eyes, thick stripes on the sides of their thorax, and a long, slender abdomen with tiny yellow spots. Most importantly, Segment 9 is very elongated in this species.
Here is a teneral Arrow Clubtail in the process of emerging (with a bonus Eastern Amberwing!).
Arrow Clubtails have a late flight period. I have seen them from August through early October.
This clubtail is a holy grail among dragonfly enthusiasts. This is the rarely-seen Elusive Clubtail. There is a good population of Elusive Clubtails at Otto Armleder Park near Cincinnati, where both of the Elusives on this page were photographed.
Elusive Clubtails are very similar to Arrow Clubtails, but their eyes are bluish-green rather than hunter green. Also, Segment 9 is not as long on an Elusive Clubtail as it is on an Arrow Clubtail.
Elusive Clubtails are not known to occur in the Dayton area, but they can be found at Otto Armleder from August through October (early November if the weather holds). It takes a lot of searching to find them perched. They don't call these dragonflies elusive for nothing!
Arrow Clubtails are scarce in the Dayton area. They prefer sandy-bottomed rivers, but most of our rivers have mud or rock bottoms.
I literally spent hours standing in the middle of the Mad River to capture these images!