#3736 · 🪽 dragonflies & damselflies

Widow Skimmer

Libellula luctuosa

LCleast concern 🪽 Dragonflies & damselflies 📍 outside Europe

8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

Widow Skimmer ( Libellula luctuosa ) is one of the group of dragonflies known as king skimmers. The nymphs live in the water, molting and growing until they are ready to emerge from the water and then molting a final time to reveal their wings.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 88,185iNaturalist observations
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
88,185 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Hermann Burmeister in 1839 (187 years ago).