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Sticker of Blue basker
Bug card No. 0522 of 4,939

Blue basker

Urothemis edwardsii

The blue basker is a dragonfly that lives all over Africa. It zooms over lakes and marshes hunting for small insects. Like every dragonfly, it has four see-through wings and big round eyes.

Lives in
Africa, from Egypt and Algeria to South Africa, at lakes and marshes
Top speed
about 40 km/h (25 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies do not sting and leave people alone.
What does it eat?
It catches small flying insects in the air. Its young live in the water and hunt there.
For real!Photo of Blue basker
Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It lives in more than 30 African countries.

2

It even lives at lakes and marshes that dry up for part of the year.

3

It belongs to the skimmers, the biggest family of dragonflies.

you asked

Most asked questions about Blue basker

?Where does the blue basker live?

In Africa, at freshwater lakes and marshes in more than 30 countries.

?Is the blue basker dangerous?

No. Dragonflies do not sting and are harmless to people.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Urothemis edwardsii
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Libellulidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
Lives on
Africa

Where the facts come from

  1. Urothemis edwardsii (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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More from the same group: Dragonflies and damselflies

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores

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