American Emerald

This species has large, green eyes, characteristic of Corduliidae. It has brown, hairy thorax and a metallic green and brown body. Abdomen with brown spots on segments 1, 2 and 3; black segments 4-10 (Dunkle, 2000). Medium sized.

This species can be found in the several of the northern US states, and is common in the Northeast.

May be found at ponds, lakes, bogs, and marshes; these also have been taken at fens and forest ponds (Dunkle, 2000).

Helocordulia looks similar to C. shurtleffii, but also has brown markings at the base of the wing (Dunkle, 2000).

Cordulia shurtleffii has been sequenced several times, for both mitochondrial and nuclear protein coding genes and ribosomal fragments.

Females oviposit exophytically.

Cordulia is likely to be a monophyletic genus. It is closely related to Somatochlora, and has been recovered as sister to Somatochlora in molecular phylogenetic works (e.g., Bybee et al., 2008).

The American emerald (Cordulia shurtleffii) is a species of dragonfly found in North America. It is colored mostly black with a yellow ring between segments 2 and 3.