Sphagnum
Guides
Aeshna juncea
Common Hawker, Moorland Hawker, Sedge Darner
Aeshna juncea, known as the Common Hawker, Moorland Hawker, or Sedge Darner, is a large hawker dragonfly with a Holarctic distribution spanning the Palearctic from Ireland to Japan and northern North America. It is one of the larger Aeshna species and is strongly associated with acidic bog habitats, particularly in Scotland where it is a prominent bog specialist. The species has a flight period from June to early October. Recent genomic research has revealed that Alaskan populations underwent population bottlenecks during the most recent ice age, and the species has been used as a model for studying genome size variation in Odonata driven by transposons and repetitive elements.
Coenonympha tullia subfusca
Coenonympha tullia subfusca is a subspecies of the large heath butterfly, a member of the family Nymphalidae. It is associated with peatland and bog habitats, where it occurs alongside other bog-specialist species. The subspecies is part of a complex that shows variation across its range in Europe and North America. Like other Coenonympha species, it is dependent on specific habitat conditions that have become increasingly threatened by drainage, peat extraction, and climate change-induced wildfires.
Colias palaeno
Moorland Clouded Yellow, Palaeno Sulphur, Pale Arctic Clouded Yellow
Colias palaeno is a Holarctic butterfly species in the family Pieridae, occurring across northern Eurasia and North America. It inhabits moorlands, bogs, and open coniferous forests, with southern populations restricted to high alpine zones above 1,500 meters. The species has experienced significant declines in parts of its European range, particularly in Bavaria, where larval survival depends critically on microclimatic conditions associated with Sphagnum moss. It is univoltine, with adults flying from June to August.
Mocyta sphagnorum
Mocyta sphagnorum is a species of rove beetle in the family Staphylinidae, described in 2015 from Canadian material. The species is associated with Sphagnum moss habitats, as indicated by its specific epithet. It belongs to the large subfamily Aleocharinae, one of the most diverse groups within the rove beetles. The species has been documented from multiple Canadian provinces and Alaska.
Pachybrachius luridus
sphagnum groundbug, dirt-colored seed bug
Pachybrachius luridus is a species of dirt-colored seed bug in the family Rhyparochromidae. It has a broad distribution spanning Europe, Northern Asia (excluding China), North America, and Southern Asia. The species is commonly known as the sphagnum groundbug, suggesting an association with peat-forming wetland habitats.
Phanocelia
Phanocelia is a genus of northern caddisflies in the family Limnephilidae. The genus contains one described species, Phanocelia canadensis. Larvae of this species inhabit acidic bog ponds, specifically within floating Sphagnum moss at the water margin. The life cycle is univoltine with autumnal adult emergence.
Pirata piraticus
Pirate Otter Spider
Pirata piraticus is a wolf spider in the family Lycosidae with a Holarctic distribution spanning North America, Europe, and Asia. Unlike the wandering hunting strategy typical of many wolf spiders, this species constructs small sheet webs with retreat tubes in moist Sphagnum moss habitats. It exhibits complex life history variation with two reproductive cohorts: early-emerging individuals mature and reproduce in the same year, while late-emerging individuals overwinter and reproduce the following spring.
Somatochlora calverti
Calvert's Emerald, Andre Flies
Somatochlora calverti is a rare, range-restricted dragonfly in the family Corduliidae. It is endemic to the southeastern United States, primarily known from the Florida panhandle with scattered records in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. The species is a habitat specialist associated with shallow seepage streams and steephead ravines. Its nymph has never been collected in the field, and its reproductive microhabitat remains speculative based on analogy to sympatric congeners.
Somatochlora incurvata
Incurvate Emerald
Somatochlora incurvata, the Incurvate Emerald, is a medium-sized dragonfly in the family Corduliidae. First described by Canadian entomologist Edmund Murton Walker in 1918 from Michigan specimens, it was initially suspected to be a local race of the closely related forcipate emerald. The species occupies a restricted range in northeastern North America and is specialized to bog and fen habitats, where larvae develop within saturated Sphagnum moss.