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Sticker of Hudsonian whiteface
Bug card No. 2294 of 4,939

Hudsonian whiteface

Leucorrhinia hudsonica
Name means: “named after Hudson Bay in Canada, where it lives”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsDragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The Hudsonian whiteface is a small dragonfly with a creamy white face. The male is black with bright red marks, and the female is dark brown with yellow marks. It lives near bogs and ponds in the cool north of North America.

Lives in
North America, from Alaska to Labrador and south to West Virginia, at ponds and bogs
Length
2.7 to 3 cm (1.1 to 1.2 in)
Top speed
about 28 km/h (17 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies and damselflies have no sting, so just watch it fly.
What does it eat?
It catches soft flying insects like mosquitoes, flies, moths and mayflies. Its young live under water and eat mosquito larvae, and sometimes even small fish and tadpoles.
For real!Photo of Hudsonian whiteface
Picture by Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Hudsonian whiteface about 3 cm long (1.2 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 5 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 14 secondsmoves 260 times its own body length every second

How big is Hudsonian whiteface compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its young hide among underwater plants and wait for food to swim past, instead of chasing it.

2

The young change into grown-up dragonflies at night.

3

While the female lays her eggs, the male flies above her and chases other males away.

4

The female lays her eggs by dipping the tip of her tail into the water while she hovers.

5

In the far north, crowds of them sometimes swarm over mossy bogs.

you asked

Most asked questions about Hudsonian whiteface

?Why is it called the Hudsonian whiteface?

It has a creamy white face, and it is named after Hudson Bay in Canada, where it lives.

?How big is the Hudsonian whiteface?

It is 27 to 30 mm long.

?What does the Hudsonian whiteface eat?

Soft flying insects such as mosquitoes, flies and moths.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Leucorrhinia hudsonica
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Libellulidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Hudsonian whiteface (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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