Mottled Darner

Aeshna clepsydra · Order: Odonata · Family: Aeshnidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Mottled Darner
Photo: Nick Block, CC BY

It lives in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Aeshna clepsydra, called the mottled darner, belongs to the dragonfly family Aeshnidae.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

The mottled darner is found in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range includes North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 14 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Maine, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Ohio.

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

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Mottled Darner photo 2
Photo: Nick Block, CC BY
Mottled Darner photo 3
Photo: Roger Rittmaster, CC BY
Mottled Darner photo 4
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Mottled Darner photo 5
Photo: Tom Field, CC BY

Same family (Aeshnidae)

Common Green DarnerCommon Green DarnerAnax juniusSouthern HawkerSouthern HawkerAeshna cyaneaHarmlessBlue EmperorBlue EmperorAnax imperatorMigrant HawkerMigrant HawkerAeshna mixtaBlue-eyed DarnerBlue-eyed DarnerRhionaeschna multicolorShadow DarnerShadow DarnerAeshna umbrosa

Sources

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

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

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

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.