These Eastern Ringtails Erpetogomphus designatus were seen on a ridge above the Rio Grande in BBNP, Brewster county, west Texas in late April 2005; the pattern of the abdomen (dorsal black on segments 7,8 and black stripe anteroventral to the auricle on S2) and dark antehumeral stripe thinly reaching the dark collar are atypical for normal designatus, and represent a southwestern variant (perhaps a separate subspecies?) known until very recently from only a few specimens taken in Chihuauha, Coahuila, and Durango, Mexico. Greg Lasley photographed and captured a number of these from Presidio County in Texas in September of 2006, and I suspect a few more images of this form are lurking among Erpetogomphus pictures taken in the American Southwest:
This male is from the Rio Grande in Presidio county in early September 2005; it seems more mature, and has almost no coloration at the base of the wing:
These two were on the Rio Grande east of Presidio, Presidio County, Texas on July 03, 2005:
This male is from next to the Rio Grande at the Hot Springs near Rio Grande Village, BBNP, Brewster county, Texas on September 04, 2011:
