![]() ![]() ![]() They patrol a territory, chasing off dragonflies of any species and psyching out other 12-spot males by flying vertical loop-the-loops around them. Even when disturbed, they will return to the same sentinel post. Males characteristically fly, stop and hover, and then chase off in a different direction. When they’re chilly, they face into the sun and raise their abdomens, to maximize exposure. The BugLady frequently sees them perched on last year’s weed stalks in her grassy field, far from the waterfront properties where they woo and win female 12-spots. The 12-Spotted Skimmer ( Libelula pulchella) ( pulchella means “little beauty” but their bodies are about 2” long) used to be called the 10-spotted skimmer by people who were counting the dark spots instead of the white ones. Like most dragonflies, the information sites on the internet are logarithmically outnumbered by the zillions of happy photographers out there stalking dragonflies, and there is a lot of dragonfly merchandise available. All have dark eyes the males are pretty distinctive, but the females can be a bit confusing. Here are three “black-and-white” King Skimmers that are gracing the skies here in God’s Country, starting with the fanciest and moving to the simplest. They are effective predators of mosquitoes and other aerial insects. Submerged aquatic plants are great, but they don’t care for floating duckweed leaves in the water. Widow skimmers, Whitetails and 12-spots prefer shallow ponds, lakes, and very slow streams with lots of organic muck on the bottom, though they may forage far from water. Males generally “hover-guard” while their ladies are thus engaged. Compared to the damselflies of recent BOTW fame, these are giants a few damselflies could easily sit on one of their wings.Ī female Skimmer doesn’t have an ovipositor like females of other dragonfly groups so instead of “inserting” her eggs into the water, she jolts them from her abdomen by smacking its tip on the water surface. The word pruinose rears its head again, as the abdomens of males of today’s dragonflies develop some degree of “hoariness” (due to the production of waxy scales) as they age. Dunkle calls the King Skimmers (the genus Libellula) “the quintessential dragonflies”-strong fliers, feisty, territorial, stout-bodied, some with white markings on their wings. They are often sexually dimorphic, with colorful males and not-so-colorful females. According to Sydney Dunkle in Dragonflies through Binoculars, they are colorful but not metallic, often have patterned wings, and their eyes contact each other at the top of their head. Today we take to the air with three big dragonflies that belong to a group called the “King Skimmers.” Represented by 103 species in North America, the Skimmer family (Libellulidae) contains our most common and conspicuous dragonflies-Pennants, Meadowhawks, Gliders, Corporals, Pondhawks, Whitefaces, Saddlebags, Skimmers and the like. ![]()
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