Brook Snaketail Dragonfly The beautiful brook snaketail
dragonfly is listed as a species of special concern in New
Jersey. The beautiful brook snaketail dragonfly (Ophiogomphus
aspersus) is listed as a species of special concern in New
Jersey. A Threatened status listing has been proposed by the
Endangered and Nongame Species Advisory Committee; however, no
formal rule proposal has been filed to date. In what is hoped
will be the first of many articles about odonates (dragonflies
and damselflies), I would like to highlight the beautiful brook
snaketail dragonfly (Ophiogomphus aspersus). The Latin root
Ophio means snake-like or serpent, hence the very appropriate
common name applied to this group. The snaketails were given
this name because males have sinuous or snake-like claspers at
the end of the abdomen which are used during mating. Snaketail
adults usually emerge from rivers and streams from late May to
early June in New Jersey. They are generally active through mid-
June though stragglers have been observ