Habitat
Photo of a four-spotted chaser in the sunshine. Public domain photo taken from commons.wikimedia.org.
Geographic Range
The four-spotted chaser is found in many areas around the Northern
Hemisphere, and because of this, it is unknown as to where the
species originated. In North America, they are mainly found in the
Midwest United States and southern Canada, as well as a couple small
areas of Alaska. In Europe, they are common in Austria, Belgium,
France, Great Britain, and Ireland. In Asia, they can be spotted in
areas of China, as well as many parts of Japan (IUCN).
This map was taken from
DiscoverLife.org. Public domain image. It shows the approximate
distribution of Libellula quadrimaculata across the
Northern Hemisphere. In each of the areas indicated, the
four-spotted chaser is considered a native species. Most have
similar summer temperatures and aquatic environments.
Ecological Niche
As with most other species in the Family Libellulidae, the
four-spotted chaser is generally only found near freshwater aquatic
environments. This is because of multiple reasons. When the insect
is in its larval stage, it cannot fly; it swims around in the water,
eating mainly small aquatic insects. Once in the adult stage, the
insect eats larger insects that are also found near water, such as
mosquitoes. This chaser often tends to choose habitats with plenty
of overgrown vegetation. This allows for a diverse appetite, as well
as a guard from predation (Russell & Fitzpatrick 1998).
Sharing this ecological niche with the four-spotted chaser are many
other species. Mosquitoes, mayflies, moths, other species of
dragonfly, and large flies are all common insects sharing that
space. The four-spotted chaser is commonly the most active in June
to late August (Schindler, et. all 2003).