Blue Skimmer

Fascinating facts about the Blue Skimmer

• The name Orthetrum caledonicum hides a story: 'Orthetrum' combines Greek words for 'straight' and 'abdomen', describing the genus's parallel-sided tail, while 'caledonicum' honors New Caledonia, the site of the first collected specimens. Understanding these roots helps naturalists trace the species' discovery history and its spread across the Pacific.
• Blue skimmer males have a powder-blue, almost frosted hue when mature; they are about 4.5 cm long with a 7 cm wingspan.
• Across mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands, this dragonfly inhabits both still ponds and flowing streams, including temporary waters.
• Males have a powder-blue thorax and abdomen that become pruinescent blue when mature. Females are brownish-grey, while newly emerged (teneral) individuals are yellow with black markings.
• The blue skimmer measures about 4.5 cm in body length and has a wingspan of roughly 7 cm, placing it in the medium-sized category among dragonflies.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Blue Skimmer

As the sun casts its golden light upon the tranquil waters, a fleck of iridescent blue darts across the surface, the Blue Skimmer dragonfly dancing on the edge of perception, its delicate form a mesmerizing blur of motion. With wings a-whir, it hovers, pauses, and then swoops, its acute vision scanning the surroundings for the slightest whisper of movement, a testament to its remarkable agility and predatory prowess. In this fleeting glimpse, we behold a creature of ethereal beauty, a master of the ephemeral, and a guardian of the aquatic realm.

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