Libellula luctuosa

Widow skimmer

Mature males develop a pale, powdery frost over parts of their dark wing patches, a coating that only forms after several days in adult life.

Where	Ponds, lakes, and marsh edges
Size	42 to 50 mm body length
When	May to September

The Widow skimmer is a bulky dragonfly with a broad dark patch at the base of each wing; mature males add white patches beyond the dark bands and a pale blue body, while females and young males have plain wingtips and a brown and yellow striped abdomen.

Aquatic nymphs live underwater for months to a few years, hunting other small aquatic animals, before climbing out onto shoreline plants to shed their skin a final time and emerge as flying adults.

Traits

Habitat

Wetland

Colour

Black, Blue, Brown

Active

Day

To people

Does not sting or bite; hunts small flying insects over open water and nearby fields.

Activity through the year

JFMAMJJASOND

Often confused with

Twelve-spotted skimmerOpen entry ›

Libellula pulchella

Close in size, but males of the Twelve-spotted skimmer show twelve black wing patches alternating with eight white spots, while male Widow skimmers have only a dark basal patch and a separate white patch on each wing, without the alternating twelve-and-eight pattern.