Butterflies, Moths, Dragonflies & Damselflies of Dayton, Ohio

Rusty SnakeTAIL

This handsome fellow is a Rusty Snaketail dragonfly. All of the Rusty Snaketails on this page were photographed at Darby Creek near Columbus. Jim Lemon and I took a few road trips up there in May 2024 and May 2025. 

This is a female Rusty Snaketail at Darby Creek. 

Rusty Snaketails fly mostly in May and June, with only a few stragglers later in the summer.

There are many species of snaketail dragonflies in the eastern U.S., but some are quite localized. Snaketails are picky little prima donnas that require pristine, unpolluted rivers. Rusty Snaketails are probably the most pollution-tolerant of the group, but even so, they apparently cannot handle the rivers in Dayton. 

Rusty Snaketails are not known to occur in the Dayton area. The nearest populations are at Darby Creek and Deer Creek State Park. 

Another female Rusty Snaketail. These are beautiful dragonflies. The only close look-alikes in the Dayton area would be Eastern Ringtails, but those fly later in the year.