Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Crocothemis servilia - Scarlet Skimmer

Scarlet Skimmer - Crocothemis servilia - male Brown-Yellow Dragonfly - Crocothemis servilia - female Brown-Yellow Dragonfly - Crocothemis servilia - female Scarlet Skimmer? - Crocothemis servilia - male Scarlet Skimmer [Crocotheis servilia] male - please confirm? - Crocothemis servilia - male I'm humbled by these dragonflies! - Crocothemis servilia - female Crocothemis servilia Crocothemis servilia
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Odonata (Dragonflies and Damselflies)
Suborder Anisoptera (Dragonflies)
Family Libellulidae (Skimmers)
Genus Crocothemis (Skimmers)
Species servilia (Scarlet Skimmer)
Identification
Amber patch at the base of each hindwing; black stripe along the dorsal edge of the abdomen.
Range
Native from southern Japan and China to northern Australia. Introduced accidentally to south Florida and to Oahu, Hawai'i.
Habitat
In the US, typically uses low-quality wetlands, either artificially constructed or highly degraded, where low dissolved oxygen, introduced fish, or other alterations make the habitat unsuitable for sensitive native species.
Remarks
One record from Chattanooga, Tennessee was not repeated in successive years and probably resulted from larvae in the roots of water plants being shipped north from Florida for the nursery trade, emerging in the new location, and failing to survive the winter.

Another record from Ohio was photographed at a nursery trading in aquatic plants, some of them shipped from Florida, so likely is another hitchhiker.