Bug FAQRed-veined Meadowhawk
Sympetrum madidum · Order: Odonata · Family: Libellulidae
Males have red faces and abdomens, dark thoraxes with two yellow spots on each side, and their wings show gold-to-red clouding with red veins.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Its wings are tinted gold to red and the veins are red, which sets it apart from other Sympetrum species. Males display red on the face and abdomen, a dark thorax with two yellow spots per side.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It lives around shallow, marshy ponds and lakes.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Aquatic larvae (naiads) eat mosquito larvae, other fly larvae, mayfly larvae and freshwater shrimp.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
After mating, the female flies in tandem with the male still attached. She deposits eggs by dipping the tip of her abdomen into shallow water.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are most active from mid-June to mid-September, but can be seen from April through September.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It can be confused with the cardinal meadowhawk, which has black at the wing base, no black underside, and reddish legs.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 15 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Colorado, Minnesota, Wyoming, Nevada.
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
Questions people ask
When are red-veined meadowhawks active?
They are commonly seen from mid-June to mid-September, though they may appear as early as April and as late as September.
Source: Wikipedia
What do red-veined meadowhawks eat?
Adults eat soft-bodied flying insects like mosquitoes and flies, while their aquatic larvae feed on mosquito larvae, other fly larvae, mayfly larvae and freshwater shrimp.
Source: Wikipedia
Where can I find red-veined meadowhawks?
They live around shallow, marshy ponds and lakes in many U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
Source: Wikipedia
How can I tell a red-veined meadowhawk apart from similar species?
Look for gold-to-red wing clouding with red veins and, in males, a red face and abdomen with a dark thorax bearing two yellow spots per side; the cardinal meadowhawk has black at the wing base and no black underside.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Libellulidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympetrum_madidum
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.