Northern Spreadwing

Lestes disjunctus · Order: Odonata · Family: Lestidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Northern Spreadwing
Photo: Owen Strickland, CC BY

The northern spreadwing is a damselfly in the family Lestidae. It lives in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Lestes disjunctus belongs to the spreadwing group of damselflies.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

This species is found across North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range is in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 47 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Michigan, Oregon, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, New York, Minnesota.

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

Source: GBIF

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

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Northern Spreadwing photo 3
Photo: rasamoto, CC BY
Northern Spreadwing photo 4
Photo: David Anderson, CC BY
Northern Spreadwing photo 5
Photo: unknown, CC0
Northern Spreadwing photo 6
Photo: Garth Harwood, CC BY

Same family (Lestidae)

Western Willow SpreadwingWestern Willow SpreadwingChalcolestes viridisSlender SpreadwingSlender SpreadwingLestes rectangularisCommon Winter DamselflyCommon Winter DamselflySympecma fuscaCommon SpreadwingCommon SpreadwingLestes sponsaGreat SpreadwingGreat SpreadwingArchilestes grandisSpotted SpreadwingSpotted SpreadwingLestes congener

Sources

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

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.

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.