The Michigan Odonata Survey (MOS) compiles and maintains verifiable records on the dragonflies and damselflies of Michigan. The state checklist of 171 species is based entirely on specimens housed in collections across the country, dating back to the late 1800s.
The MOS was organized in 1996 and has been managed since 2018 by Julie Craves and Darrin O’Brien. Verification and standardization of specimen data from the primary state collections has been ongoing, and additional collections have been incorporated into the MOS database, including substantial material from watershed sampling completed by the state of Michigan and regional watershed groups. Significant findings have been published in peer-reviewed journals.
Several important collections still need to be integrated into the database, along with additional specimen identifications. This will form the basis of the first comprehensive state checklist published since 1958.
October 2024
Taxonomy changes from the newest version of the World Odonata List have been incorporated into the Michigan checklist: the state’s five species of spiketails, formerly in the genus Cordulegaster, are now in the genus Zoraena. This is based on a recently published paper, Molecular Phylogeny of the Family Cordulegastridae (Odonata) Worldwide.
June 2024
Great Pondhawk (Erythemis vesiculosa) has been added to the Michigan checklist!
November 2023
We have posted an update on the actual first state record for Dusky Dancer, Argia translata.
October 2023
Plains Emerald, Somatochlora ensigera, has been added to the Michigan list based on nymphs collected in Menominee County. Read the blog post here and our article published in the October issue of Argia here.
May 2023
Julie Craves and Darrin O’Brien are now Adjunct Curators at the Albert J. Cook Arthropod Research Collection at Michigan State University. We will be working to grow and improve their Odonata collection, including contributing to the DNA and phylogeny work on the genus Somatochlora.
March 2023
The state list of threatened and endangered species has been updated. The page of rare species in Michigan has been updated to reflect those changes, as has the state checklist.
We’ve been hard at work adding many new records to the Michigan database from collections around the state and country, as well as borrowing specimens from various collections to confirm identifications. We are approaching 37,000 records in the database identified to species.
June 2022
Urban Dragon Hunters has an update on the Band-winged Dragonlet in Michigan, this time in Lenawee Co. Other southern species species seem to be appearing in the north this year. Read the blog post here.
April 2022
Hine’s Emerald — the only federally-endangered dragonfly — was discovered in new location in Michigan, and the genetics are fascinating. Read about our new paper at Urban Dragon Hunters.
Craves, J.A., A.I. Cognato, D. O’Brien, and M.J. Mahoney. 2022. A new locality and unexpected haplotypes of the federally-endangered Hine’s Emerald dragonfly, Somatochlora hineana (Odonata: Corduliidae). Bulletin of American Odonatology 13(2): 7-17.
The Entomological Society of America published a nice write-up of the research on their blog.
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