Photo of the Day #635: Dragonfly : Laelaps

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Laelaps is the blog of Brian Switek, a freelance science writer based in New Jersey. This blog frequently features his musings on paleontology, evolution, and the history of science. Switek also blogs for Smithsonian magazine's Dinosaur Tracking.

Switek's first book, Written in Stone, will be published next year by Bellevue Literary Press.

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Photo of the Day #635: Dragonfly

Category: Inverts • Photography
Posted on: July 9, 2009 6:21 AM, by Brian Switek

A female widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), photographed in Mount Kisco, NY. Thanks to Rich for the identification.

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Comments

As a dragonfly enthusiast, I can tell you that you have a female widow skimmer here. Nice picture.

Posted by: Rich | July 9, 2009 7:10 AM

Thanks for the help, Rich. I don't know my dragonflies that well so I wasn't sure where to even start when I wanted to find the species for this one. There were a lot of males and females out that day; I will post more soon.

Posted by: Laelaps | July 9, 2009 7:34 AM

It's a Widow Skimmer all right, but a male. The white wing bands are much subtler than I'm used to seeing here in Minnesota, but they're definitely there; the yellow stripes on the abdomen are covered up by bluish pruinescence; and you can even make out the claspers at the tip of the abdomen -- at this angle they look a bit like a cloven hoof.

Congratulations on the photo. I always find these guys rather flighty and hard to approach compared to most skimmers.

Posted by: Raphael Carter | July 9, 2009 7:40 PM

Yup, a male Widow Skimmer, all right. These guys aren't particularly common here in central Arizona, and the few I do find are very difficult to approach and photograph. Congratulations on this fine shot, Brian!

Posted by: Pete Moulton | July 15, 2009 5:47 AM