Identification

Field Marks

• Average adult size is approximately from 1.9 to 2.2 inches
• Dark metallic green face with yellow sides
• Metallic emerald eyes
• Brown and metallic green thorax with only a pale yellow front stripe visible, stripe becomes less visible with age
• Black legs
• Yellow spots on abdominal segments 2 and 3 with a ring separating the segments
• Black abdomen with yellow to brown patches low on the sides of segments 5 to 10
• Dark terminal appendages. Cerci are straight and point down and inward. Tips come together but do not meet
• Wings may have an amber tint

Field Marks

• Female is colored similarly to the male
• Cerci are longer than segments 9 and 10, partially because segment 9 is shorter than the same segment on most other species of Somatochlora
• Subgenital plate is yellow, scoop shaped, equal in length to segment 9 and is angled slightly down from the abdomen

Behavior

Males patrol 2 to 3 feet over the water, frequently stopping to hover. Kennedy's Emerald is a fairly wary species that will often fly into the trees and perch in the shade if flushed. Will often join in feeding swarms in the AM and PM

Habitat

Bog ponds, open bogs and fens, slow moving streams flowing through bogs or marshes

Reproduction

Female lays eggs by dipping her abdomen in open water, typically surrounded by aquatic vegetation or floating moss beds, for a few seconds then moving to another similar location