Slender blue skimmer
Orthetrum luzonicum
The slender blue skimmer is a dragonfly with blue eyes and a long, powdery blue tail. Its face is yellowish white and its chest is yellow-green with brown stripes. It zooms around marshes in Asia.
Lives in
Many countries in Asia, in marshes and swampy places
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies do not sting people.
What does it eat?
Like all dragonflies, it catches small flying insects in the air.
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)
Slender blue skimmer about 40 km/h (25 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its blue colour is a kind of powder on its body, like the bloom on a plum.
2
In old males the blue powder spreads over the chest too and hides its stripes.
3
Females and young males are yellowish green, not blue.
4
Its wings are clear all the way to the body.
you asked
Most asked questions about Slender blue skimmer
?Where does the slender blue skimmer live?
In many Asian countries, in marshes and swampy areas.
?Why are some slender blue skimmers green?
Females and young males are yellowish green. Only older males turn blue.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Orthetrum luzonicum
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Libellulidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
- Lives on
- Asia
- Also known as
- Marsh skimmer, Tricolored marsh hawk
Where the facts come from
- Orthetrum luzonicum (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 Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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