Autumn Darter is Japan's classic "red dragonfly," the insect behind the famous children's song "Akatombo." It is not found in the United States; it lives in Japan, with a very close relative across mainland Eurasia. After emerging in early summer, adults fly up into the mountains to escape the heat and return to the lowlands in fall.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 1.3–1.8 in (32–46 mm) long. Mature males have a bright red abdomen; females stay mostly yellowish brown.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- rice paddies
- ponds and marshes
- mountains (summer)
- Range
- Japan, where it is found nearly everywhere except the Ogasawara Islands and Okinawa. It does not occur in North America.
- Preferred conditions
- Breeds in shallow still water, including flooded rice fields and temporary pools.
- Migration
- Newly emerged adults move uphill to cool mountains for the summer, sometimes up to nearly 10,000 ft (3,000 m), then come back down in autumn to breed.
Behavior
- Overwintering
- Eggs spend the winter and hatch in spring when rice paddies are flooded.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- Females lay eggs by tapping the tip of the abdomen on the water surface or wet mud.
Conservation
- Conservation
- Once one of Japan's most common dragonflies, it declined sharply across Japan from the late 1990s. Insecticides used on rice seedlings are a suspected cause.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- In Japan it is a traditional symbol of autumn.
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