Libellula Explained

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]

Overview

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]}

Species

List of species.^[4]

Extant species

Male	Female	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
		Libellula angelina		North China, Japan
		Libellula auripennis	golden-winged skimmer	North and Central America
		Libellula axilena	bar-winged skimmer	North America
		Libellula comanche	Comanche skimmer	Central America and North America
		Libellula composita	bleached skimmer	North America.
		Libellula croceipennis	neon skimmer	North and Central America
		Libellula cyanea	spangled skimmer	United States of America
		Libellula depressa	broad-bodied chaser	Europe, West Asia. Sometimes included in the genus Ladona.
		Libellula flavida	yellow-sided skimmer	North America
		Libellula foliata		Mexico (Chiapas)
		Libellula forensis	eight-spotted skimmer	Western United States and Canada
		Libellula fulva	scarce chaser	Europe
		Libellula gaigei	Red-mantled Skimmer	Mexico, United States(Texas)
		Libellula herculea	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	slaty skimmer	eastern United States and southern Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick.
		Libellula jesseana	purple skimmer	United States (Florida)
		Libellula luctuosa	widow skimmer	United States, Canada (southern Ontario and Quebec).
		Libellula mariae	Maria's Skimmer	Costa Rica
		Libellula melli		China
		Libellula needhami	Needham's skimmer	Caribbean, Central America, and North America.
		Libellula nodisticta	hoary skimmer	Central America, North America, and South America.
		Libellula pontica	red chaser	Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Turkey
		Libellula pulchella	twelve-spotted skimmer	southern Canada and contiguous U.S. states.
		Libellula quadrimaculata	four-spotted skimmer or four-spotted chaser	Europe and North America
		Libellula saturata	flame skimmer	Southwestern United States
		Libellula semifasciata	painted skimmer	New Brunswick, Canada as far south as Texas and Florida.
		Libellula vibrans	great blue skimmer	eastern United States

Ladona

Male	Female	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
		Ladona deplanata	blue corporal	eastern United States.
		Ladona exusta	white corporal	Mid-Atlantic and New England
		Ladona julia	chalk-fronted corporal	northern United States and southern Canada.

Plathemis

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

Fossils

• Libellula brodieri† ^[5]
• Libellula calypso† ^[5]
• Libellula doris †^[5]
• Libellula eusebioi† ^[5]
• Libellula kieseli† ^[5]
• Libellula martini† ^[5]
• Libellula melobasis†
• Libellula pannewitziana† ^[5]
• Libellula perse† ^[5]
• Libellula sieboldiana† ^[5]
• Libellula thetis† ^[5]
• Libellula thoe† ^[5]
• Libellula ukrainensis† ^[5]

Notes and References

1. Book: Needham, James G. . Minter J. Westfall Jr . Michael L. May . Dragonflies of North America (rev. ed.) . Scientific Publishers . 2000 . Gainesville, FL . 0-945417-94-2 . 700–702 .
2. Artiss T, Schultz TR, Polhemus DA, Simon C . Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the dragonfly genera Libellula, Ladona, and Plathemis (Odonata: Libellulidae) based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and 16S rRNA sequence data . . 18 . 3 . 348–61 . 2001 . 11277629 . 10.1006/mpev.2000.0867.
3. Kambhampati . Srinivas . Charlton, Ralph E. . Phylogenetic relationship among Libellula, Ladona and Plathemis (Odonata: Libellulidae) based on DNA sequence of mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene . . 24 . 1 . 37–49 . 1999 . 10.1046/j.1365-3113.1999.00066.x . 83165475 . free .
4. http://www.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/odonata/anisoptera/libellulidae/libellula/index.html Libellula
5. https://www.fossilworks.org The Paleobiology Database