Common baskettail
The common baskettail is a brown dragonfly with a hairy chest. It is the most common baskettail where it lives, and that is how it got its name. Some have a dark triangle at the base of the back wings.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its scientific name, cynosura, means dog tail.
The tip of its tail curves out to the sides, maybe like a dog wagging its tail.
It can fly as early as January and as late as August, and in north Florida even in winter.
It looks so much like its relatives that experts check the tip of its tail to tell them apart.
Most asked questions about Common baskettail
?Why is it called the common baskettail?
Because it is the most common kind of baskettail dragonfly where it lives.
?Can a common baskettail sting?
No. Dragonflies have no sting and are harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Epitheca cynosura
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Corduliidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Corduliidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Common baskettail (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by R. A. Nonenmacher. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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