Family: Libellulidae
Length: typically 38-43 mm
Chalk-fronted Corporals were formerly placed in the genus Libellula.
Males of this species are stocky, brown dragonflies with considerable whitish pruinescence on the front of the abdomen and on the dorsum of the thorax. The wings have small dark basal areas.
Females and immature males are brown and have a dark dorsal stripe on the abdomen. There are also a pair of pale stripes on the shoulder, hence the name "corporal."
Chalk-fronted Corporals, like other Corporals, prefer to perch on the ground or on rocks or logs or floating vegetation. It perches less often on the stems of plants, but when it does so, it usually hangs obliquely. Look for the species in wetland ponds and occasionally along streams or small rivers.
In West Virginia Ladona julia is near the southern limit of its range. The handful of county records of the species are centered in the states northeastern (but not eastern panhandle) counties. The one shown here was photographed just outside the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Tucker County, where it was basking on the banks of the Blackwater River.
