Libellula

For the British aircraft, see Miles Libellula. For the Italian helicopter, see Manzolini Libellula.

Libellula is a genus of dragonflies, called chasers (in English) or skimmers (in American), in the family Libellulidae. They are distributed throughout the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Many have showy wing patterns.^[1]

Skimmers Temporal range: Late Miocene–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Broad-bodied chaser
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Infraorder:	Anisoptera
Family:	Libellulidae
Subfamily:	Libellulinae
Genus:	Libellula Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Libellula depressa
Species
See text

Taxonomy

The taxa Ladona (corporals) and Plathemis (whitetails) have been considered as synonyms of Libellula, subgenera, or separate genera by different authorities. Recent phylogenetic analysis has supported their status as either subgenera or full genera.^[2][3]

Etymology

The genus name comes from Latin libella, meaning "a carpenter's level".^[4]

Species

List of species.^[5]

Extant species

Male	Female	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
		Libellula angelina Selys, 1883		North China, Japan
		Libellula auripennis Burmeister, 1839	golden-winged skimmer	North and Central America
		Libellula axilena Westwood, 1837	bar-winged skimmer	North America
		Libellula comanche Calvert, 1907	Comanche skimmer	Central America and North America
		Libellula composita (Hagen, 1873)	bleached skimmer	North America.
		Libellula croceipennis Selys, 1869	neon skimmer	North and Central America
		Libellula cyanea Fabricius, 1775	spangled skimmer	United States of America
		Libellula depressa Linnaeus, 1758	broad-bodied chaser	Europe, West Asia. Sometimes included in the genus Ladona.
		Libellula flavida Rambur, 1842	yellow-sided skimmer	North America
		Libellula foliata (Kirby, 1889)		Mexico (Chiapas)
		Libellula forensis Hagen, 1861	eight-spotted skimmer	Western United States and Canada
		Libellula fulva Müller, 1764	scarce chaser	Europe
		Libellula gaigei Gloyd, 1938	Red-mantled Skimmer	Mexico, United States(Texas)
		Libellula herculea Karsch, 1889	Hercules Skimmer	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Venezuela
		Libellula incesta Hagen, 1861	slaty skimmer	eastern United States and southern Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick.
		Libellula jesseana Williamson, 1922	purple skimmer	United States (Florida)
		Libellula luctuosa Burmeister, 1839	widow skimmer	United States, Canada (southern Ontario and Quebec).
		Libellula mariae Garrison, 1992	Maria's Skimmer	Costa Rica
		Libellula melli Schmidt, 1948		China
		Libellula needhami Westfall, 1943	Needham's skimmer	Caribbean, Central America, and North America.
		Libellula nodisticta Hagen, 1861	hoary skimmer	Central America, North America, and South America.
		Libellula pontica Selys, 1887	red chaser	Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Turkey
		Libellula pulchella Drury, 1773	twelve-spotted skimmer	southern Canada and contiguous U.S. states.
		Libellula quadrimaculata Linnaeus, 1758	four-spotted skimmer or four-spotted chaser	Europe and North America
		Libellula saturata Uhler, 1857	flame skimmer	Southwestern United States
		Libellula semifasciata Burmeister, 1839	painted skimmer	New Brunswick, Canada as far south as Texas and Florida.
		Libellula vibrans Fabricius, 1793	great blue skimmer	eastern United States

Ladona

Male	Female	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
		Ladona deplanata (Rambur, 1842)	blue corporal	eastern United States.
		Ladona exusta (Say, 1839)	white corporal	Mid-Atlantic and New England
		Ladona julia (Uhler, 1857)	chalk-fronted corporal	northern United States and southern Canada.

Plathemis

Male	Female	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
		Plathemis lydia (Drury, 1770)	common whitetail or long-tailed skimmer	North America
		Plathemis subornata (Hagen, 1861)	desert whitetail	United States (Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington.), Mexico

Fossils

• Libellula brodieri† ^[6]
• Libellula calypso† ^[6]
• Libellula doris †^[6]
• Libellula eusebioi† ^[6]
• Libellula kieseli† ^[6]
• Libellula martini† ^[6]
• Libellula melobasis†
• Libellula pannewitziana† ^[6]
• Libellula perse† ^[6]
• Libellula sieboldiana† ^[6]
• Libellula thetis† ^[6]
• Libellula thoe† ^[6]
• Libellula ukrainensis† ^[6]