Libellula needhami

Needham's skimmer

This reddish-orange dragonfly breeds as readily in brackish, salt-tinged marshes and tidal rivers as it does in ordinary freshwater ponds and lakes.

Where	Coastal marshes and ponds, eastern North America
Size	51 to 56 mm body length
When	March to September

Males are bright reddish-orange with a red face, reddish-brown thorax and a black stripe down the back of the abdomen, while females and young males are paler, with a brown or yellow face and a yellow abdomen marked the same way. Wings are lightly tinted orange at the base in males.

Needham's skimmer breeds in marshes, ponds, lakes and slow tidal rivers, both fresh and brackish, mostly close to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. Adults are on the wing through the summer, perching low over the water and returning to the same stretch of shoreline to hunt.

Traits

Habitat

Wetland

Colour

Orange, Red, Black

Active

Day

To people

Harmless to people; it does not bite or sting and is most often seen perched low over marsh or pond edges.

Activity through the year

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Often confused with

Golden-winged skimmernot in guide

Libellula auripennis

Both are similarly sized reddish-orange skimmers of the same coastal marshes, but Needham's skimmer has brown hind legs and a pale thorax stripe that crosses onto the front, while the Golden-winged skimmer has black hind legs and the pale stripe stops short.