Epitheca (Baskettails)

Baskettails live around the northern hemisphere. Rather than metallic green and black, like other emeralds, they have a brown thorax and a dark abdomen with yellow marks on the sides. The hindwings are marked with brown at the base. Females fly with the end of the abdomen curled upwards, the forked, finger-like vulvar lamina holding a ball of eggs as in a basket, which gives the group its English name. To lay the eggs, a female dips the egg mass into the water and it uncoils in long, gelatinous strands that float near the surface. Many females may contribute to communal egg masses. Larvae are less hairy and less coated with algae than those of our other emeralds; they have prominent dorsal and lateral spines on a broad abdomen. Some biologists place the North American species in the genus Tetragoneuria.

Figure 12. Identifying features for Epitheca. Above, male appendages, side view: a, spinigera; b, canis. Below, female vulvar lamina, view from below: c, spinigera; d, canis. A9, A10 = abdominal segment 9, 10; UA, LA = upper, lower appendages; VL = vulvar lamina.

Epitheca canis (Beaverpond Baskettail)

Epitheca spinigera (Spiny Baskettail)