Page 38 - 2023MayJun

Here Be Dragons
Biologist Visits Historic Dragonfly Location, Commemorating a Day of
Dragonfly Discovery
By Jena Donnell, Communication and Education Specialist
HERE BE DRAGONS

BIOLOGIST VISITS HISTORIC DRAGONFLY LOCATION,
COMMEMORATING A DAY OF DRAGONFLY DISCOVERY

SETH SCHUBERT/READERS PHOTO SHOWCASE 2017

Naturalist E.B. Williamson documented some By Jena Donnell, Communication and Education Specialist
of Oklahoma’s first dragonfly and damselfly
records in 1907. Our state’s known diversity has An early chapter in the story of Oklahoma’s dragonflies and damselflies begins
since grown from the 22 species collected on at Cavanal Lake, located just outside of Wister, in southeastern Oklahoma.
his expedition’s first day to 176 species today.
Months before statehood, on June 3, 1907, Bluffton, Indiana banker E.B.
Williamson documented the first known Oklahoma records of 22 dragonfly and
damselfly species, the highest one-day count of state odonate records, while
making a brief stopover in the area.
During his party’s three-day stay in the community, Williamson also docu-
mented the first Oklahoma records of three additional dragonfly and damsel-
fly species. From these specimens, he described multiple species he thought
were new to science, but only one dragonfly, the orange shadowdragon, is still
considered a full species. Another specimen collected during his trip helped to
describe the damselfly now known as the vesper bluet.
“Williamson was one of the first to document Oklahoma’s dragonflies and
damselflies, and quite possibly the first to do so,” said Brenda D. Smith, con-

36 OUTDOOR OKLAHOMA