NC Odonate Website

Related Species in GOMPHIDAE:

Number of records for 2025 = 2

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Unicorn Clubtail (Arigomphus villosipes) by John Petranka, Sally Gewalt.

Compare with: Distinctive
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Map

Click on county for list of all its records for Unicorn Clubtail

Flight Charts

Distribution

The mountain region, the northern Piedmont, and the adjacent northern Coastal Plain. A record from Bladen County seems odd, and it is not in Cuyler's specimen collection. Additional records in the past few years have extended the range slightly southward, to Guilford, Alamance, Orange, Durham, and Wake counties. NC lies at the southeastern edge of the species' range.

Abundance

Uncommon (and possibly local) in the mountains, but probably very rare to rare in the southwestern counties. Seemingly very rare eastward in the Piedmont near the VA border, to Rockingham County; rare to locally uncommon (but increasing) in the northeastern Piedmont, but currently no Piedmont records for the southern 70% of the province. In the Coastal Plain, apparently very rare south to Washington County; however, there are no records since 1998, and thus its current status in that province is not known.

Flight

The mountain flight occurs from early or mid-May to late July. The Piedmont flight is earlier -- late April or early May to mid-June (and possibly into July). Not surprisingly, the Coastal Plain flight is even earlier -- mid-April to mid-June.

Habitat

Generally a lake and pond species, or slow streams; muddy bottom waters preferred.

Behavior

Occurs around ponds and lakes, perching on the ground or on vegetation around the water's edge. It seems to favor small ponds in sunny locations, often in somewhat disturbed situations.

Comments

Until 15-20 years ago, this species had an unusual range in the state, being found mainly in the mountains and the northern Coastal Plain, at least based on Duncan Cuyler's records. However, in the past decade there have been a modest number of records, many made by John Petranka, from the northeastern Piedmont, such that the former large gap between the mountains and Coastal Plain has now been mostly filled in. Unless data are uncovered soon for the Bladen County "record", we will likely remove it from the database; this county lies far to the south of any other known records. There still remains an odd lack of records from the northwestern Piedmont that "connects" the north-central Piedmont with the northern mountains. There has been a fair amount of recent field work in these Piedmont counties, but perhaps more survey of small lakes and ponds (as opposed to rivers and creeks) is needed.

There are enough recent records that the species was removed from the state's Watch List, in late 2020.

State Rank

State Status

Global Rank

Federal Status

Synonym

Other Name

Species account update: LeGrand on 2023-01-09 15:28:38

The Dragonflies and Damselflies of North Carolina
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Photo Gallery for Unicorn Clubtail 44 photos are available. Only the most recent 30 are shown.		Other NC Galleries: Jeff Pippen Will Cook Ted Wilcox
	Photo 1 by: Bryson Hicks Comment: Yancey, 2025-06-18, At a pond southeast of Burnsville, elevation ca. 2,800 ft., 35.89496, -82.25412 - male		Photo 2 by: Michael W Plauche Comment: Transylvania, 2025-06-09, iNaturalist Record 288412150; Riversedge Road, Brevard
	Photo 3 by: G. McGrane Comment: Watauga, 2024-05-24, Brookshire Park		Photo 4 by: G. McGrane Comment: Watauga, 2024-05-24, Brookshire Park
	Photo 5 by: Matt Spangler Comment: Chatham, 2024-05-19, Northeast District Park - appears to be a county record		Photo 6 by: P Dixon Comment: Haywood, 2023-05-13, Harmon Den Meadows
	Photo 7 by: P Dixon Comment: Haywood, 2022-07-12, Harmon Den meadows near horse camp, 35.761858680047766, -82.98522559935496		Photo 8 by: Harry LeGrand, Lori Arent Comment: Wake, 2022-06-01, Wooten Meadow Park - first Wake County record; new man-made pond. Photo by Lori Arent.
	Photo 9 by: Max Ramey, Aaron Reb Comment: Watauga, 2021-07-17, Bass Lake		Photo 10 by: p dixon Comment: Madison, 2020-06-08, Hot Springs area
	Photo 11 by: Charles H Williams Comment: Guilford, 2020-06-03, 2:12 PM beside lake at Country Park 36.124674, -79.835216		Photo 12 by: p dixon Comment: Madison, 2020-06-02, Hot Springs area, French Broad River
	Photo 13 by: Kyle Kittelberger, Richard Stickney Comment: Durham, 2020-05-17, pond at Penny's Bend - male, ate a female spreadwing at one point		Photo 14 by: Kyle Kittelberger, Richard Stickney Comment: Durham, 2020-05-17, pond at Penny's Bend - male, ate a female spreadwing at one point
	Photo 15 by: Kyle Kittelberger, Richard Stickney Comment: Durham, 2020-05-17, pond at Penny's Bend - male, ate a female spreadwing at one point		Photo 16 by: David Bednar Comment: Orange, 2020-04-26, Private pond about a mile south of Little River Regional Park and Natural Area. - Male. Emerging adult and exuviae.
	Photo 17 by: David Bednar Comment: Orange, 2020-04-26, Private pond about a mile south of Little River Regional Park and Natural Area. - Male. Emerging adult and exuviae.		Photo 18 by: Pete Dixon Comment: Madison, 2019-05-29, River Road, 1:30-4:30pm, Broadwing farm to Murray Branch, sunny, high 80s
	Photo 19 by: R. Emmitt Comment: Orange, 2019-05-07, Brumley Forest Preserve.		Photo 20 by: John Petranka, Sally Gewalt. Comment: Macon, 2018-06-27, Cliffside Lake at Cliffside Lake Recreation Area, ca. 4 miles NW of Highlands. - Males
	Photo 21 by: Mark Shields Comment: Jackson, 2018-06-25, Pond beside Breedlove Road, 5 km northeast of Cashiers - First record for county		Photo 22 by: Mike Turner Comment: Guilford, 2018-06-06, retention pond at SR 2832 @ I 785/840
	Photo 23 by: John Petranka, Sally Gewalt. Comment: Guilford, 2018-05-23, Northeast Park. Pond alongside west side of loop road. - Males.		Photo 24 by: John Petranka, Sally Gewalt. Comment: Rockingham, 2018-05-22, Pond at Dan River Campground. End of Webster Road, east of Mayodan. - Males.
	Photo 25 by: Mark Shields and Hunter Phillips Comment: Rockingham, 2018-05-13, Mayo River State Park (MARI) - Mayo Mountain Access - female observed ovipositing in pond near park office		Photo 26 by: Mark Shields Comment: Rutherford; P, 2017-06-02, Morse Park, Lake Lure - male eating a female Common Baskettail
	Photo 27 by: Mike Turner Comment: Orange, 2017-05-06, Occoneechee Mt. State Natural Area - teneral		Photo 28 by: Timothy Deering Comment: Buncombe, 2016-06-16, Farm Pond, Dark Hollow Creek.
	Photo 29 by: Jim Petranka Comment: Madison, 2015-06-05, Pond at junction of US Alternate 23 and Laurel Valley Road. - New record for Madison Co.		Photo 30 by: Curtis Smalling Comment: Watauga, 2015-05-28, at Meat Camp Creek Environmental Studies Area - several years in a row