#3691 · 🪽 dragonflies & damselflies

Keeled Skimmer

🇳🇱 Beekoeverlibel ·Orthetrum coerulescens

LCleast concern 🪽 Dragonflies & damselflies 📍 in the Netherlands

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

1. © David Barros Cardona · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Gerhard Sommer · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Bernard Noguès · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Владимир Онишко · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © Andrea Miclet · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
6. © Cathy Pasterczyk · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. © Chris Moody · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The keeled skimmer , Orthetrum coerulescens , is a species of European dragonfly. This species resembles the black-tailed skimmer but is slimmer and the male has no black tip. Females and immature males lack the black abdominal pattern. The pterostigma is orange and the thorax usually bears pale stripes. It breeds mainly in peat bogs and flies (in the UK) from June to September.

base stats

NL sightings 188iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 18,607iNaturalist 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

Spotted 188 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #30 most seen of the dragonflies & damselflies in NL.
18,607 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1798 (228 years ago).