If you’ve been on the South Thompson River in Kamloops you may have been fortunate enough to have seen the striking blue eyes of the olive clubtail dragonfly (Stylurus olivaceus). Entomologist Rob Cannings describes this medium-sized dragonfly as “the rarest of the rare” in his article for the Dragonfly Society of the Americas. 

In 2011, this species was designated as endangered by COSEWIC and the British Columbia Conservation Data Centre classifies it as imperiled. Threats to this rare dragonfly include agricultural practices and shoreline development. A sighting of the olive clubtail could indeed indicate that a stream or river is in good health. Efforts to conserve populations of the olive clubtail will definitely benefit the entire ecosystem.

The olive clubtail is one of fifty-seven (57) taxa in Thompson-Nicola listed under the Species at Risk Act (Government of Canada 2002). Read more about the Conservation Status of Species and Ecosystems in the Thompson-Nicola in TNCC Resources.