Anax junius
(Drury, 1773) · speciesAt a glance
Sources13 archives
Databases and archives Anax junius's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation9 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility55 691 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System15 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI136 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics129 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Tree of SexTree of Sex Consortiumgenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The green darner or common green darner (Anax junius), after its resemblance to a darning needle, is a species of dragonfly in the family Aeshnidae. One of the most common and abundant species throughout North America, it also ranges south to Panama. It is well known for its great migration distance from the northern United States south into Texas and Mexico. It also occurs in the Caribbean, Tahiti, and Asia from Japan to mainland China. It is the official insect for the state of Washington in the United States. The green darner is one of the largest extant dragonflies; males grow to 76 mm in length with a wingspan up to 80 mm. Females oviposit in aquatic vegetation, eggs laid beneath the water surface. Nymphs (naiads) are aquatic carnivores, feeding on insects, tadpoles, and small fish. Adult darners catch insects on the wing, including ant alates, moths, mosquitoes, and flies.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
No structured trait data for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Anax junius has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Anax junius carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 286×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database · GoaT · Tree of Sex Database · GoaT · Animal Genome Size Database +1
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type55 706 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions35 of 64 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Odonata Centrallocation not on record | 1 329 |
| Washington, US | 358 |
| East Lansing, US | 191 |
| Champaign, US | 189 |
| Saint John, CA | 154 |
| Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record | 142 |
| Mexico City, MX | 130 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 129 |
| Cleveland Museum of Natural History, OH (CLEV)location not on record | 109 |
| Toronto, CA | 95 |
| Lubbock, US | 72 |
| University Park, US | 63 |
| San Francisco, US | 61 |
| Université Lavallocation not on record | 61 |
| Vancouver, CA | 50 |
| New Haven, US | 43 |
| Essig Museum of Entomologylocation not on record | 41 |
| OSUClocation not on record | 40 |
| CASlocation not on record | 35 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 31 |
| College Station, US | 31 |
| Chicago, US | 27 |
| Philadelphia, US | 23 |
| Montréal, CA | 22 |
| Chicago, US | 17 |
| University of Central Floridalocation not on record | 16 |
| UCBMElocation not on record | 15 |
| Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record | 12 |
| University of Guelphlocation not on record | 11 |
| Ville de Montréal, Espace pour la Vielocation not on record | 11 |
| Provo, US | 10 |
| München, DE | 9 |
| Tempe, US | 7 |
| Central Michigan University, Biology Departmentlocation not on record | 6 |
| Durango, MX | 6 |
| The University of Hawaii Insect Museumlocation not on record | 5 |
| Gouvernement du Québeclocation not on record | 5 |
| Montgomery, US | 4 |
| San Diego, US | 4 |
| Blacksburg, US | 3 |
| Mayagüez, PR | 3 |
| WIlocation not on record | 3 |
| The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobagolocation not on record | 3 |
| San Luis Potosí, MX | 3 |
| Santa Cruz, US | 3 |
| Catalogues in Otago Museumlocation not on record | 3 |
| Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Denver, US | 2 |
| US | 2 |
| Albuquerque, US | 2 |
| University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record | 2 |
| Royal British Columbia Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Cambridge, US | 2 |
| Museum of Zoology at the University of Bergen, Invertebrate Collectionlocation not on record | 1 |
| MZLUlocation not on record | 1 |
| St. Paul, US | 1 |
| Juriquilla, MX | 1 |
| Florida State Collection of Arthropods, The Museum of Entomologylocation not on record | 1 |
| National Museums of Kenyalocation not on record | 1 |
| Decorah, US | 1 |
| California Department for Food and Agriculturelocation not on record | 1 |
| Truckee, US | 1 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Anax junius was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.