Slaty skimmer
Libellula incesta
The slaty skimmer is a dragonfly from eastern North America. The grown-up male is dark slate blue with a black head. Females and young ones are brown with a darker stripe down the back.
Lives in
The eastern United States and southeastern Canada, near lakes and ponds
Length
5.3 cm (2.1 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies have no sting. Just watch it fly.
What does it eat?
Like other dragonflies, it catches flying insects. Its babies live under water at the bottom of lakes and hunt there.
How big is it?
How long is it?
🍚as long as 9 grains of rice in a row🧱as long as 1.5 toy building bricks in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 9.9 seconds⚡moves 200 times its own body length every second
How big is Slaty skimmer compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
Slaty skimmer about 38 km/h (24 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It is about 5 centimetres long.
2
Its babies only live in lakes and ponds that never dry out.
3
The grown-ups fly from June to August.
you asked
Most asked questions about Slaty skimmer
?Do slaty skimmers sting?
No. Dragonflies have no sting and are harmless to people.
?What colour is a slaty skimmer?
Males are dark slate blue with a black head. Females are brown with a dark back stripe.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Libellula incesta
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Libellulidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Libellula incesta (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by D. Gordon E. Robertson. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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