Widow Skimmer Libellula luctuosa: Dragonfly With Velvety Black Wings

Summary: Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa) is a New World dragonfly native to Canada and the United States. Adult male wings are showy black, white and clear bands.

female Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Toledo, northwestern Ohio; Monday, June 30, 2008, 13:23: Benny Mazur, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Libellula luctuosa is a New World dragonfly native to Canada, Mexico and the United States.

In Canada, Libellula luctuosa claims homelands in the eastern provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Libellula luctuosa's range in Mexico includes the northern states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora.

In the United States, Libellula luctuosa enjoys nativity from coast-to-coast in the Lower 48, with the exception of four Rocky Mountain states of Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

Libellula luctuosa’s English common name of Widow Skimmer reflects the dark patches radiating from the base of the wings as well as the species name, luctuosa, Latin for “mournful, sad.”

Despite the melancholy scientific and common names, Widow Skimmers are startlingly beautiful with their dramatic black-banded wings with glass-like tips.

Widow Skimmers prefer wet environments, such as vegetative habitats, ideal for perching, in proximity to lakes, marshes, ponds, and slow streams.

They also haunt drier, open habitats, such as meadows and roadsides, and exhibit rare toleration for montane habitats up to around 5,500 feet (1,676 meters).

Widow Skimmers are large dragonflies with adult body lengths of 1.5 to almost 2 inches (4 to 5 centimeters). Their adult wingspan measures over 3 inches (8 centimeters).

Adult females, along with juveniles of both sexes, differ in appearance from adult male Widow Skimmers. Juveniles and adult females are dark-bodied with a yellow, segmented line dramatically bisecting the upper side of the thorax and subsequently dividing into two lines to frame the outer edges of the upper side of the abdomen. Their wings sport black or dark patches fanning from the base to the center and succeeded by a clear, glass-like section to the tips.

Adult males present a steely blue body coated with pruinosity, a powdery layer created by wax particles in their cuticle, or exoskeleton. Adult males exhibit a showy wing pattern of velvety black widow patches succeeded by a central, wide band of chalky whiteness, with an expanse of glass-like transparency defining the tips.

During a walk along the nature trail 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south of my house, my brother, sister and I were entertained by a male Widow Skimmer flitting between perches in the streamside mixed grove of catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides) and willow (Salix spp.) trees.

The exuberant male’s stately attractiveness glimmered as sunlight bestowed a velvet appearance upon his abdomen and widow patches; cast a pure, chalky sheen upon his white bands; and created a sparkling prism with his wingtips.

male Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), Chalco Hills Recreation Area, Sarpy County, southeastern Nebraska; Sunday, July 20, 2008, 13:35: MONGO, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

female Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Toledo, northwestern Ohio; Monday, June 30, 2008, 13:23: Benny Mazur, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Libellula_luctuosa_Burmeister.jpg;
Benny Mazur (Benimoto), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/44545509@N00/2632802114/

male Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), Chalco Hills Recreation Area, Sarpy County, southeastern Nebraska; Sunday, July 20, 2008, 13:35: MONGO, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Libellula_luctuosa_7.20.2008.jpg

For further information:

Dunkle, Sidney W. Dragonflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America. Oxford UK; New York NY: Oxford University Press, 2000.

"Libellula luctuosa." NatureServe Explorer.
Available @ http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Libellula%20luctuosa

Neal, Jonathan (jjneal). "The Widow Skimmer." Living with Insects Blog. June 15, 2011.
Available @ https://livingwithinsects.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/the-widow-skimmer/

Paulson, Dennis. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West. Princeton Field Guides. Princeton NJ; Woodstock UK: Princeton University Press, 2009.

Paulson, Dennis. “Libellula luctuosa.” The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.2.
Available @ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/165064/0

Van Dokkum, Pieter. Dragonflies: Magnificent Creatures of Water, Air, and Land. New Haven CT; London UK: Yale University Press, 2015.

“Widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa).” Arkive > Species > Invertebrates – terrestrial and freshwater.
Available @ http://www.arkive.org/widow-skimmer/libellula-luctuosa/

White Faced Meadowhawk Sympetrum obtrusum: Dragonfly With White Face

Summary: White Faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum) is a New World dragonfly, native to Canada and the continental United States, with a distinctive white face.

female White Faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), central Connecticut; Monday, July 21, 2008, 17:55: Sage Ross, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Sympetrum obtrusum is a New World dragonfly native to Canada and the continental United States.

Apart from the northern territory of Nunavut and the eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Sympetrum obtrusum claims homelands throughout Canada.

Sympetrum obtrusum is found from coast-to-coast in the continental United States, except for a tier of southern states. The exclusive southern landscapes span Gulf Coast states (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas); South Atlantic states (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina); South Central states (Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma); and New Mexico in the southwest.

Sympetrum obtrusum’s common name in English recognizes the dragonfly’s distinctive white face as an adult.

White Faced Meadowhawks favor wet environments such as grassy or wooded habitats in proximity to marshes, ponds or streams. Wetland ecosystems provide such ideal, egg-laying sites as emergent vegetation (aquatic plants with above-water flowers and foliage) and muddy shore grasses.

White Faced Meadowhawks are small dragonflies, with adult lengths generally ranging from 1.25 to over 1.5 inches (31.75 to 38.1 millimeters).

The yellowish juvenile face matures into the distinctive pure whiteness of adult males and the generally white creaminess of adult females.

Prominent black triangles decorate the sides of the abdomen, which flashes as bright red in adult males and pales as yellow in juveniles and females. Females may take on olive-brown or dull red abdominal coloring as they mature.

Black coloring dramatizes not only their legs but also the veins of their clear wings.

In July 2015 an adult male came a-calling for an evening visit by resting obviously against the upper portion of my house’s east-facing front screen door. He stayed for hours and then took quiet leave, probably returning to the nearby willow (Salix spp.) grove and vernal pool marking the western perimeter of my back yard.

male White Faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), Dunnville Barrens State Natural Area (SNA #621), south central Dunn County, northwestern Wisconsin; Sunday, Sep 11, 2011: Aaron Carlson (aarongunner), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

female White Faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), central Connecticut; Monday, July 21, 2008, 17:55: Sage Ross, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Female_Sympetrum_obtrusum_in_central_Connecticut,_2008-07-21.jpg

male White Faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum), Dunnville Barrens State Natural Area (SNA #621), south central Dunn County, northwestern Wisconsin; Sunday, Sep 11, 2011: Aaron Carlson (aarongunner), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/59003943@N00/6137968020/

For further information:

Dunkle, Sidney W. Dragonflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America. Oxford UK; New York NY: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Padelford, Babs. “White-Faced Meadowhawk Sympetrum obtrusum.” Nature Search > Insects > Dragonflies/Damselfies > Skimmers.
Available @ http://www.fnanaturesearch.org/index.php?option=com_naturesearch&task=view&id=1469

“Sympetrum obtrusum.” NatureServe Explorer.
Available @ http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Sympetrum%20obtrusumv Van Dokkum, Pieter. Dragonflies: Magnificent Creatures of Water, Air, and Land. New Haven CT; London UK: Yale University Press, 2015.

Plathemis lydia: Chalky Blue White of Male Common Whitetail Dragonfly

Summary: Plathemis lydia is a New World dragonfly native to Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. The males display startling coloring, with chalky blue-white abdomen.

female Common Whitetail, Town of Skaneateles, Onondaga County, upstate New York; Thursday, July 20, 2006, 17:23: R. A. Nonenmacher, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Plathemis lydia is a New World dragonfly native to North America from southern Canada southward across the United States and into Mexico.

In Canada, Plathemis lydia enjoys a coast-to-coast range across southern Canada’s ten provinces.

In the United States, Plathemis lydia claims homelands throughout the continental, or Lower 48, United States.

Plathemis lydia, which has a scientific synonym of Libellula lydia, is known commonly in English as Common Whitetail.

Common Whitetail dragonflies favor the moist environment of slow-moving or standing water bodies, such as creeks, lakes, marshes, ponds, and streams. They accept other still water ecosystems such as ditches and wetland meadows.

As members of the world’s largest dragonfly family, the skimmers or perchers (Libellulidae), Common Whitetail dragonflies hover over water and perch in nearby, open habitats. Their favorite ground sites are on logs and rocks, as well as at muddy locales. Branches are favored for aboveground sites.

Robber fly (Trioria interrupta) preys upon hapless Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia); Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 15:25: Thomas Shahan: Thomas Shahan, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Membership in the carnivorous order of insects, the Odonata (Ancient Greek: οδόντoς, odontos, “tooth”) signals the diet of Common Whitetails as insectivores (Latin: insectum, “animal with divided or notched body” + vorare, “devour, swallow”).

As adults, Common Whitetails adeptly tackle their prey, such flying insects as gnats and mosquitoes, in mid-air offensives.

The threat of predation is not restricted to Common Whitetail young'uns, known as naiads or nymphs. Young'uns are favored by birds, fish and frogs, as well as by aquatic insects, including other dragonflies.

A particularly fearsome predator of adult Common Whitetails is the robber fly (Trioria interrupta). The aggressive insectivore specializes in fatal and swift aerial ambushes.

Through their differing appearances and sizes, smaller females and larger males exhibit sexual dimorphism (Ancient Greek: δίς, dís, “twice” + μορφή, morphḗ, “form, shape” + -ισμός, -ismós, suffix forming abstract nouns).

The short, stout abdomen in males presents a chalky blue-white coloring.

In females, brown predominates across the short, stout abdomen. Creamy white diagonal spots create a sawtooth pattern along the side.

Immature males resemble females in abdominal coloring and pattern.

Wing patterns distinguish females and males.

Males have two sets of brown-black bands on each translucent-tipped wing. A swath of white triangulates beneath the smaller, inner bands on either side of the abdomen.

Immature males resemble adult males in their wing pattern.

Females have three sets of dark bands on each wing. All wingtips are darkened with the third band.

On a walk this year (2015) on Sunday, June 14, along a nature trail about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south of my home, I was gently buzzed by a male Common Whitetail as he flew from a muddy patch in the gravel parking lot to his perch in a stand of deciduous trees generously lining the trail’s stream.

The chalky blue whiteness of his abdomen was startlingly unusual and set off his dark-banded, translucent wings with aesthetic perfection.

adult male Common Whitetail, with characteristic white waxy coating on abdomen and wings: Bruce Marlin, CC BY SA 2.5 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

female Common Whitetail, Town of Skaneateles, Onondaga County, upstate New York; Thursday, July 20, 2006, 17:23: R. A. Nonenmacher, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dragonfly_ran-579_Whitetail_f.jpg

Robber fly (Trioria interrupta) preys upon hapless Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia); Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 15:25: Thomas Shahan, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robber_Fly_(Triorla_interrupta)_with_Dragonfly_(Plathemis_lydia).jpg

adult male Common Whitetail, with characteristic white waxy coating on abdomen and wings: Bruce Marlin, CC BY SA 2.5 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Common_whitetail.jpg;
via North American Insects & Spiders, @ https://www.cirrusimage.com/dragonfly_common_whitetail/

male Common Whitetail: Bruce Marlin, CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Common_whitetail.jpg

For further information:

“Common whitetail (Plathemis lydia).” Arkive > Species > Invertebrates – terrestrial and freshwater. Last updated 8/13/2014.
Available @ http://www.arkive.org/common-whitetail/plathemis-lydia/

“Common Whitetail Skimmer – (Libellula lydia).” InsectIdentification.org > Dragonflies & Damselflies.
Available @ http://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Common-Whitetail-Skimmer

“Plathemis lydia – Common Whitetail.” BugGuide > Guide > Arthropods (Arthropoda) > Hexapods (Hexapoda) > Insects (Insecta) > Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) > Dragonflies (Anisoptera) > Skimmers (Libellulidae) > Whitetails (Plathemis).
Available @ http://bugguide.net/node/view/603

Van Dokkum, Pieter. Dragonflies: Magnificent Creatures of Water, Air, and Land. New Haven CT and London UK: Yale University Press, 2015.