THE XERCES SOCIETY FOR INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION

Aquatic Invertebrates in Pacific Northwest Freshwater Wetlands
An Identification Guide and Educational Resource

The spreadwings live primarily among plants and organic debris in still or slack waters typical of wetlands. Lestidae have a distinctive narrow body and an extremely long narrow labium. As with other damselflies, they have three plates at the end of their abdomen. Only two genera in this family can be found in the Pacific Northwest: Archilestes and Lestes. The genus Archilestes is found mostly in the western parts of the Northwest (WA, OR, CA, into northern ID), whereas the genus Lestes is found across the Northwest.

The two genera can be distinguished by their mouthparts and gills.
Archilestes has three sharp points at the end of the lobes on the labium, the outermost of which is shorter than the moveable hook. Lestes also has three sharp points, but there is a fourth lobe between the outer two, and the outermost lobe is almost as long as the moveable hook. They also differ in the plates at the end of their abdomen. Archilestes has two distinct, dark bands across the plates, which Lestes lacks.