Iowa Species Detail

Flight Season

Early Date: May 30    Late Date: October 19

Rare							Abundant
FLIGHT SEASON
JAN				FEB				MAR
APR				MAY				JUN
JUL				AUG				SEP
OCT				NOV				DEC

Description

Has dark wing veins and a yellow to brownish face but is very similar to Cherry-faced Meadowhawk. As a rule, Ruby has more color in the inner wing, but the two cannot safely be distinguished without careful study of the claspers and secondary genitalia. It is, however, our most common Sympetrum and should be found statewide.

Size

Although some species show a bit of variation in size, the following graphic will give you a general feeling for the normal size of this species.

State Status:  S5      Global Status:  G5

Geographic Distribution - 93 Counties

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Recorded in These Counties
Adair	Adams	Allamakee	Appanoose	Audubon
Benton	Black Hawk	Boone	Bremer	Buchanan
Buena Vista	Butler	Calhoun	Carroll	Cass
Cedar	Cerro Gordo	Cherokee	Chickasaw	Clarke
Clay	Clayton	Clinton	Crawford	Dallas
Davis	Delaware	Des Moines	Dickinson	Emmet
Fayette	Floyd	Franklin	Greene	Grundy
Guthrie	Hamilton	Hancock	Hardin	Harrison
Henry	Howard	Humboldt	Ida	Iowa
Jackson	Jasper	Jefferson	Johnson	Jones
Keokuk	Kossuth	Linn	Louisa	Lucas
Lyon	Madison	Mahaska	Marion	Marshall
Mitchell	Monroe	Montgomery	Muscatine	O'Brien
Osceola	Page	Palo Alto	Plymouth	Pocahontas
Polk	Pottawattamie	Poweshiek	Ringgold	Sac
Scott	Shelby	Sioux	Story	Tama
Taylor	Union	Van Buren	Wapello	Warren
Washington	Wayne	Webster	Winnebago	Winneshiek
Woodbury	Worth	Wright