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
Broad-bodied chaser
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Infraorder: Anisoptera
Family: Libellulidae
Subfamily: Libellulinae
Genus: Libellula
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Libellula depressa
Species

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Overview

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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

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List of species.[4]

Extant species

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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

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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

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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

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References

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  1. ^ Needham, James G.; Minter J. Westfall Jr; Michael L. May (2000). Dragonflies of North America (rev. ed.). Gainesville, FL: Scientific Publishers. pp. 700–702. ISBN 0-945417-94-2.
  2. ^ Artiss T, Schultz TR, Polhemus DA, Simon C (2001). "Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the dragonfly genera Libellula, Ladona, and Plathemis (Odonata: Libellulidae) based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and 16S rRNA sequence data". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 18 (3): 348–61. doi:10.1006/mpev.2000.0867. PMID 11277629.
  3. ^ Kambhampati, Srinivas; Charlton, Ralph E. (1999). "Phylogenetic relationship among Libellula, Ladona and Plathemis (Odonata: Libellulidae) based on DNA sequence of mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene". Systematic Entomology. 24 (1): 37–49. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3113.1999.00066.x. S2CID 83165475.
  4. ^ Libellula, funet.fi
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l The Paleobiology Database
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