Bug FAQBar-sided Darner
Gynacantha mexicana · Order: Odonata · Family: Aeshnidae
No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
The bar-sided darner is a dragonfly species in the family Aeshnidae. It occurs across Central America, North America and South America.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Gynacantha mexicana, called the bar-sided darner, belongs to the darner group of dragonflies in the family Aeshnidae.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 1 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas.
AKMEVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILWIMINYRIMAORNVWYSDIAINOHPANJCTCAUTCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFL
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
JFMAMJJASOND
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Aeshnidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynacantha_mexicana
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.