Pantala hymenaea (Say) new to British Columbia, Canada, with notes on its status in the northwestern United States (Anisoptera: Libellulidae)

On 23 July 1988 while in my garden at Ten-mile Point, Victoria, British Columbia, I observed a distinctive dragonfly that I immediately recognized as Pantala hymenaea. The dragonfly, hunting over the large lawn, flew past me eight or ten times between 13:10 and 13:15 PST, approaching as closely as two meters; I had good views of it at both eye level and from below. A Pantala, presumably the same insect, flew by the same place at 16:45 h PST the same day, and three times from 13:50 h to 13:52 h on 24 July. The site is open and south-facing on the shore of Cadboro Bay; the Washington State mainland is visible, 30 km to the south across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The brown body, orange face (indicating a male), and light brown spots on the expanded bases of the hindwings were clearly visible. The soaring, gliding flight was distinctive. Similar species, also often wide-ranging, were immediately eliminated as possibilities. The dark patches on the hindwings of northern species of Tramea are much larger than those observed; T. lacerata Hag., the only species of the genus recorded from Washington State, is black in colour. Pantala flavescens (Fabr.), famous for its cosmopolitan wanderings, and known as far north on the West Coast of North America as Inyo Co., California (D.R. PAULSON & R.W. GARRISON, 1977, Pan-Padf. Eni., 53; 147- -160), has no hindwing spots and is much paler.