Bug FAQHarpoon Clubtail
Phanogomphus descriptus · Order: Odonata · Family: Gomphidae
The harpoon clubtail is a clubtail dragonfly belonging to the family Gomphidae. It lives in the eastern part of North America. Its genus, Phanogomphus, was once treated as a subgenus of Gomphus but is now recognized as a separate genus.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Phanogomphus descriptus is the scientific name for the harpoon clubtail dragonfly.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
The species is found in eastern North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range is the eastern part of North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 14 of 51 states and DC. Most records: New York, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina.
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
Same family (Gomphidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phanogomphus_descriptus
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.