Bug FAQEbony Jewelwing
Calopteryx maculata · Order: Odonata · Family: Calopterygidae
Also called: Black-Winged Damselfly
The ebony jewelwing is a damselfly about 39 to 57 mm long that lives near wooded streams and rivers but can wander away from water.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Females are duller brown with smoky wings that show white spots near the tips.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure between 39 and 57 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They live near wooded streams and rivers but are capable of moving far from water.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults eat a wide variety of insects and small aquatic animals, including mosquitoes, aphids, gnats, crane flies, diving beetles, dobsonflies, water fleas, dragonflies, oligochaetes, caddisflies, rotifers, copepods, amphipods, beetles, triclads, and hydra. The aquatic nymph (naiad) feeds on small aquatic insects.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Mating occurs in the summer. When fully grown, the naiad crawls out of the water and molts into an adult.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
They can be observed almost throughout the year in some regions.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Their range includes the eastern U.S., southeastern Canada, and reaches west to the Great Plains.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 42 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas.
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 (Calopterygidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony_jewelwing
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.