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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Calopteryx aequabilis
River Jewelwing

 
Scientific Name: Calopteryx aequabilis Say, 1839
English Name: River Jewelwing
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: Paulson, D.R. and S.W. Dunkle. 1999. A checklist of North American Odonata. Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound Occasional Paper, 56: 86 pp. Available: http://www.ups.edu/x7015.xml.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Invertebrate Animal
Species Code: OD-CALAEQ
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Arthropoda Insecta Odonata Calopterygidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (May 2016)
Provincial Status: S3S4 (Mar 2023)
BC List: Blue
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description: The river jewelwing can be easily separated from other members of the genus by the dark bands at the tips of the wings. Both males and females are long and slender and have bright metallic green bodies and colored wings. Males have blue reflections in the metallic green and wings are clear at the base with broad, dark brown, apical bands. Males have clear wings with black tips. Females usually have dark brown wing tips, but the wing bases have yellow-brown shading and anterior wing margins are a contrasting bright white. Female wings are generally paler (Cannings, 2002; Westfall and May, 1996). Nymphs tend to be found on larger, more open streams and rivers than the ebony jewelwing, Calopteryx maculata.
Global Reproduction Comments: The larval life cycle is typically two or three years long (Martin, 1939). Flight period is from mid-June to early September in British Columbia (Cannings, 2002), early June to early September in Washington (Paulson, 1999), mid-May to mid-September in Oregon (Johnson and Valley, 2005), May to August in California (Biggs, 2000), mid-June to early September in Idaho (Logan, 1967), June to September in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin (DuBois, 2005), mid-June to late August in Ohio (Glotzhober and McShaffrey, 2002), mid-May to mid-August in Massachusetts (Nikula et al., 2003), and late May to late August in Nova Scotia (Conrad and Herman, 1990). Males are territorial defending oviposition sites and this is one of the few damselflies that court females. Courtship involves fluttering back and forth in front of a perched female and by males flinging their bodies onto the water's surface in courtship displays. Mating usually occurs on vegetation very close to the water after which the male returns to his territorial perch to guard the egg-laying female. Females lay eggs singly submerged below the water's surface. Either the tip of the abdomen or the entire female may be submerged. Adults are often found perched on streamsides in emergent vegetation often within a few feet of the shoreline. They may also fly low over the water in a bouncy manner (see Cannings, 2003; Conrad and Herman, 1987; DuBois, 2005; Martin, 1939).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
N /
N /
na /
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence) 		Riparian / Riparian Forest / Facultative - frequent use
Riparian / Riparian Shrub / Facultative - frequent use
Stream/River / Stream/River / Obligate
Global Habitat Comments: Larvae live in small to medium-sized, warm rivers and streams; especially along swiftly flowing riffle segments. They can typically be found in underwater tree roots and aquatic vegetation. Adults are often perched nearby in a head down position along streams and rivers (Biggs, 2000; Cannings, 2003; Conrad and Herman 1987; Nikula et al., 2003; Westfall and May, 1996).
Provincial Habitat Comments: Along small warm rivers and slow streams (Cannings 2002b).
Food Habits:
Global Food Habits Comments:
Global Phenology:
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): / /
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: It is distributed broadly across northern and central North America from extreme southern British Columbia and north-central Alberta (noticeably absent from the Yukon) east to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and New England, south to California, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Indiana, Iowa and Virginia; and spotty in the west in southern Washington and east of the Cascade Mountains (Cannings, 2003; Nikula et al., 2003; Paulson, 1999; Westfall and May, 1996; Paulson and Dunkle, 2009).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Cordeiro, J.
Last Updated: Jan 22, 2010
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
Cannings, R. 2002. Rare Dragonflies of British Columbia, B.C. Minist. Sustainable Resour. Manage., and B.C. Minist. Water, Land and Air Prot. 6pp.
Cannings, R.A. 2002b. Introducing the dragonflies of British Columbia and the Yukon. Royal B.C. Mus., Victoria, BC. 96pp.
Cannings, R.A., S.G. Cannings, and L. Ramsay. 2000. The Dragonflies of the Columbia Basin, British Columbia. Royal B.C. Mus. 287pp.
Cannings, S.G. 2003. Status of River Jewelwing (Calopteryx aequabilis Say) in British Columbia. B.C. Minist. Water, Land and Air Prot., Biodiversity Branch, and B.C. Minist. Sustainable Resour. Manage., Conservation Data Centre, Victoria, BC. Wildl. Bull. B-110. 17pp.
Ramsay, L.R., and R.A. Cannings. 2004. Determining the Status of British Columbia's Dragonflies. In T.D. Hooper, ed. Proc. of the Species at Risk 2004 Pathways to Recovery Conf. March 2-6, 2004, Victoria, B.C. Species at Risk 2004 Pathways to Recovery Conference Organizing Committee, Victoria, BC. 12pp.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2010. Species Summary: Calopteryx aequabilis. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 16, 2026).