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Libellula auripennis Burmeister, 1839
Golden-winged Skimmer
Florida native
Typically found in grassy ponds and lakes, but also in ditches and slow moving streams thoughout much of Florida, although seldom south of Lake Ockeechobee. The primarily range is the coastal states from Texas to Massachusetts. Occuring less frequently and less widespread inland as far west as Oklahoma and Kansas and north into Illinois, Michigan and Ontario.
Juveniles and females have yellow stigma, brown faces and brown thorax with 2 vague pale stripes on the sides, and a yellow abdomen with a black dorsal stripe. As males mature the brown areas (face and thorax) become orange as do the wing veins and the stigmas turn red. The lower parts (tibia) of the hind legs are black.
Females of this species are identical to purple skimmer (Libellula jesseana) females and can only be identified by which males they mate with. Golden-winged skimmers are also very similar to Needham's skimmer.
Libellula auripennis is a member of the Libellulidae - Skimmers family.
Other species of the Libellula genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Libellula axilena - BAR-WINGED SKIMMER
Libellula incesta - SLATY SKIMMER
Libellula needhami - NEEDHAM'S SKIMMER
Libellula vibrans - GREAT BLUE SKIMMER
iNaturalist profile for this species
For more information on this species, visit the following link:
Bugguide.net info page for this species
Date record last modified: Jul 07, 2024
