Widow Skimmer Dragonfly Facts

The widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa) is so named because, unlike other dragonfly species, the male leaves the female after she lays her eggs. A common, slow-flying dragonfly, the widow skimmer is harmless to humans and is easy to capture with a net. Keep an eye out for these easy-to-recognize dragonflies the next time you visit a pond or lake, Most likely, they'll be busy doing their part in keeping other insect populations in check.

  1. Identification

    • The widow skimmer measures up to 2 inches long with a wingspan of up to 3 inches. Its body is dark brown, often with yellow stripes running along the abdomen that darken with age to black in males and dark brown in females. The fore and hind wings are blackish-brown from the body halfway to the tip, with the wing tips clear or smoky-brown. Mature males have white patches in the middle of each wing.

    Habitat

    • Most commonly found flying over still bodies of water including ponds, small lakes, marshes and borrow pits, widow skimmers may occasionally live around small streams. During the day, they can be found resting on emergent vegetation; in the evening, they often hang below the twigs of shrubs growing beside the water.

    Distribution

    • This widespread dragonfly can be found across most of the United States, except for the Rocky Mountain region. Widow skimmers also range north into the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia, and south into Mexico.

    Life Cycle

    • The male widow skimmer fertilizes the eggs inside the female, then she lays the eggs in the water where they hatch. The larvae---also called nymphs or naiads---live underwater, feeding, molting and growing. Finally, they leave the water, molt one last time and emerge as adults.

    Food

    • During the nymph stage, widow skimmers feed on small aquatic insects. As adults, they perch on emergent vegetation, waiting to attack and consume unsuspecting biting flies, mosquitoes, midges and other small flying insects. Widow skimmers are known to defend their favorite feeding territories when their populations are high.