Bug FAQDot-tailed Whiteface
Leucorrhinia intacta · Order: Odonata · Family: Libellulidae
Males show a single yellow spot on the top of the abdomen and the species lives near boggy ponds, marshes, beaver ponds and farm ponds with water lilies. Naiads are 14 to 19 mm long, live among submerged plants, eat mosquito and other aquatic insect larvae, and emerge as adults at night.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
It has a mostly black body, white face, small black spots at the wing bases and black legs.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults are 25 to 38 mm long (about 1 to 1.2 inches). Naiads are 14 to 19 mm long (about 9/16 to 3/4 inch).
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Found near boggy and marshy ponds, lakes, beaver ponds, and farm ponds with water lilies.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Naiads live among submerged vegetation. They emerge as adults during the night.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are most active from early May to late August, with peak flight early June to early August.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It resembles several other whiteface species, especially the smaller Hudsonian whiteface.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 33 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What insects do they eat?
Adults eat soft-bodied flying insects like mosquitoes and flies, while the aquatic larvae eat mosquito larvae and other small aquatic insects.
Source: Wikipedia
Where might I find them?
Look near boggy ponds, marshes, beaver ponds, or farm ponds with water lilies.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Libellulidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-tailed_whiteface
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.