Clamp-tipped Emerald

Somatochlora tenebrosa · Order: Odonata · Family: Corduliidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Clamp-tipped Emerald
Photo: Nick Block, CC BY

The clamp-tipped emerald is a dragonfly in the family Corduliidae. It lives in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Somatochlora tenebrosa, called the clamp-tipped emerald, belongs to the emerald dragonfly group in the Corduliidae family.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

This species is found across North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range is North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 31 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Ohio, New York, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Jersey.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

JFMAMJJASOND

Source: GBIF

More photos

Clamp-tipped Emerald photo 3
Photo: Nick Block, CC BY
Clamp-tipped Emerald photo 4
Photo: Nick Block, CC BY
Clamp-tipped Emerald photo 5
Photo: Alex Stach, CC BY
Clamp-tipped Emerald photo 6
Photo: Shawn Taylor, CC BY

Same family (Corduliidae)

Prince BaskettailPrince BaskettailEpitheca princepsDowny EmeraldDowny EmeraldCordulia aeneaCommon BaskettailCommon BaskettailEpitheca cynosuraTau EmeraldTau EmeraldHemicordulia tauAmerican EmeraldAmerican EmeraldCordulia shurtleffiiAustralian Emerald DragonflyAustralian Emerald DragonflyHemicordulia australiae

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatochlora_tenebrosa

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.