Skip to main content

Swampwatcher (Potamarcha congener)

Swampwatcher (Potamarcha congener) is a species of animal in Libellulidae, a medium sized dragonfly with a bluish black chest, yellow tail with black markings, face olive yellow to black or brown, large reddish brown eyes on top and bluish gray below.

P. congener in adult males has a thorax and the first four stomach segments are covered with a bluish black color. Young adults have visible yellow markings in between black and orange with the last two segments being entirely black.

Dlium Swampwatcher (Potamarcha congener)


The female has yellow and black stripes on the sides. The belly is black with dull orange markings and has a protruding flap on each side of the rear segment. The flap serves to hold the eggs in place during oviposition.

Transparent wings with a bluish-black band on the front margin near the tip. Swampwatcher lives on land with standing water including small ponds, rice fields, swamps or rivers as breeding grounds.



Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Anisoptera
Family: Libellulidae
Genus: Potamarcha
Species: Potamarcha congener

Popular Posts

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...

Broad sword fern (Nephrolepis biserrata)

Broad sword fern ( Nephrolepis biserrata ) is a species of fern in the Nephrolepidaceae, epiphytic and terrestrial, with grayish-brown stems, brown hairs, and 10–130 cm long. The leaf blades are green, 7 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, and hairy brown on the underside. The sori are attached to the underside of the leaf blade, with about 60 sori along the edge and are brown in color. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Class: Polypodiopsida Subclass: Polypodiidae Order: Polypodiales Suborder: Polypodiineae Family: Nephrolepidaceae Genus: Nephrolepis Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Species: Nephrolepis biserrata (Sw.) Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Homotypic Synonyms Aspidium biserratum Sw. in J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 32 (1801) Hypopeltis biserrata (Sw.) Bory in C.P.Bélanger, Voy. Indes Or., Bot. 2(1): 65 (1833) Lepidoneuron biserratum (Sw.) Fée in Mém. Foug., 5. Gen. Filic.: 301 (1852) Nephrodium biserratum (Sw.) C.Presl in Reliq. Haenk. 1: 31 (1825) Nephrolepis bise...

Whipple’s Cryptantha (Cryptantha whippleae), serpentine-adapted species endemic to northern California

NEWS - Whipple’s Cryptantha ( Cryptantha whippleae ) is described as a new species from a meandering barren area in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Siskiyou County, California, with one outlier population in a meandering area possibly in Lake County, California. Cryptantha is a genus of perennial herbs in the Boraginaceae (Amsinckiinae) and has been non-monophyletic in several molecular phylogenetic studies. It is currently recognized with 109 species and 124 minimum-ranked taxa, of which 63 are in North America and 47 are in South America, with one taxon found on both continents. Serpentine soils, particularly in northern California, are formed from ultramafic (meta-igneous) rocks that formed millions of years ago on the seafloor. These soils are very high in heavy metals (e.g., nickel, iron, and magnesium) and low in calcium and potassium. Serpentine soils are unsuitable for plants that have not evolved to tolerate the harsh conditions. Species that adapt to serpentines have h...