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Sticker of Pale snaketail
Bug card No. 3232 of 4,939

Pale snaketail

Ophiogomphus severus
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsDragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The pale snaketail is a dragonfly from western North America. It belongs to the clubtails, dragonflies whose tail is a little wider near the tip. Its name says it is pale.

Lives in
Western North America, near water
Top speed
about 40 km/h (25 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies have no sting, so you can just watch it fly.
What does it eat?
Like all dragonflies, it catches small flying insects. Its babies live under water and hunt tiny water animals.
For real!Photo of Pale snaketail
Picture by JerryFriedman. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is a member of the clubtail family, whose tails end in a little club.

2

There are two subspecies of it, two kinds that look a bit different.

3

Like all dragonflies, it starts life under water and climbs out when it is ready to fly.

you asked

Most asked questions about Pale snaketail

?Is the pale snaketail dangerous?

No. Dragonflies have no sting and are harmless to people.

?Where does the pale snaketail live?

In western North America, including California.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Ophiogomphus severus
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Gomphidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Gomphidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Pale snaketail (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 JerryFriedman. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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