The Greater Blue Skimmer is a sturdy East Asian dragonfly; mature males look dusted with bluish-white powder and have dark eyes. It lives in Japan, Korea, eastern China, and Taiwan and is not found in the United States.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 2–2.4 in (50–60 mm) long with a thick abdomen. Mature males are powdery blue-white from the thorax to mid-abdomen, with blackish eyes; in mainland Japan they also have a dark brown patch at the base of the hindwings. Females are brownish yellow.
Look-alikes
White-tailed SkimmerOrthetrum albistylum
Check a male's eyes: blackish in the Greater Blue Skimmer, blue-green in the White-tailed Skimmer. The Greater Blue Skimmer is also a bit bigger with a thicker abdomen.
Why they get mixed upBoth share the same East Asian wetlands, and in both the males are powdery blue while the females are yellowish.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- forested swamps
- rice paddies
- small streams
- Range
- Japan (including the Ryukyu Islands), eastern China including Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and the southern Kuril Islands. It does not occur in North America.
- Preferred conditions
- Found from lowlands into hills, from forested swamps to open marshes and rice paddies.
Behavior
- Diet
- Catches flying insects such as flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, and moths.
Name and classification
- About the name
- It was once treated as a subspecies of the Southeast Asian Orthetrum triangulare and is now considered a separate species.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
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