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Animal profile

Common Green Darner

Anax junius

InsectaPonds, marshes and slow streams across North America, with adults ranging widely over open countryLeast Concern

Field profile

The common green darner is a large hawker dragonfly with a green thorax and a blue or purplish abdomen in males. It breeds in still and slow-moving fresh water, where the larvae are aggressive underwater predators. Unlike most North American dragonflies, part of the population migrates.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-02-13

Common Green Darner

The green darner migration spans three generations

No single common green darner completes the round trip between northern breeding ponds and the southern wintering grounds. Isotope work on wing tissue indicates that the annual cycle is carried by a relay of roughly three successive generations, none of which retraces its own outbound flight.

Read with evidence →

Common Green Darner | Daily Animal Facts