Common Whitetail Dragonfly

More Dragonfly Resources Skimmers Dragonfly Pictures

Like many dragonfly species, the name of the dragonfly, the common whitetail, pretty much describes it.

Common whitetails (Plathemis lydia) are among the most common dragonflies across the United States.

They are part of the larger skimmer family, and only one of two members of the Plathemis genus of whitetails.

The adult male, pictured above, sports a white tail. The picture above shows a faded white abdomen and yellow spots on the back of the head.

Females of the species, pictured below, share a similar abdomen pattern, without the white cover.

They can easily be mistaken for eight-spotted skimmers because they also have eight spots on their wings, so the white spots along the sides of the abdomen serve as better field identification clues.

© 2008 Patricia A. Michaels