COMMON WHITETAIL (Plathemis lydia)
A QUICK ID HELPER
May, 2020 - By Koaw
In recent years, my respect and interest in the members of Odonata has grown. I’ve spent many of my last few years in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, mostly in Northern Virginia. I went on a dragonfly count last season organized by the Walker Nature Center in Reston, VA. There always seemed to be a few species that would be harder to ID than others. The common whitetail (Plathemis lydia) is one of them.
The female common whitetail is sometimes confused with the females and immature males of the twelve-spotted skimmer (Libellula pulchella). The quick trick is to notice the light markings on the abdomen: If the markings are angled then you have a common whitetail. Here are three of my photos showing Libellula pulchella: (2) male and (1) female.
MALE -
The mature male is fairly easy to distinguish from the female and immature male because it has that light blue abdomen.
IMMATURE MALE -
Notice the dark spots on the wings match the mature male above. The white markings on the abdomen are slightly oblique.
FEMALE -
Notice that each wing is tipped with black and has the two other dark markings. The light markings on the abdomen are slightly oblique whereas the twelve-spotted skimmer has parallel light markings along its abdomen (see photo below).
TWELVE-SPOTTED SKIMMER (FEMALE)
Notice the linear markings along the abdomen. (Photograph from Creative Commons 3.0 by D. Gordon E. Robertson)
OTHER DRAGONFLIES ID HELPER:
If you live in Virginia, or even in the Mid-Atlantic region, then check out this site by Kevin Munroe: http://www.dragonfliesnva.com/ He put together a fabulous resource for people to ID and find dragonflies with other great information.
Check out Discover Life’s Dragonfly ID Helper: https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Anisoptera
Are you on iNaturalist yet? This is the ultimate tool for any citizen looking for quick animal identifications. It’s free. Check it out at inatuarlist.org.