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Photo#191832
Slaty Skimmer - Libellula incesta - female

Slaty Skimmer - Libellula incesta - Female
New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, USA
June 17, 2008
Is this a Skimmer? They are great companions in the garden. There are hundreds of them (we live near a swamp) and they actually pluck the deer flies off us before they can bite. I love them! Much better than "Off"!

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Slaty Skimmer - Libellula incesta - female Slaty Skimmer - Libellula incesta - female Slaty Skimmer - Libellula incesta - female

Moved
Moved from Great Blue Skimmer.

Yes, Female Skimmer in the genus Libellula
Slaty and Great Blue are very similar. With the very white face here we're tempted to say Great Blue, L. vibrans. If you have lots of dragonflies, you could try to get images of some of the males. Let's see what some of the odonate specialists have to say.

 
Slaty Skimmer?
There's a lot of brown on the sides of the thorax below the wings and dark stripe on the dorsal side of the abdomen is fairly straight and not jagged. I don't know if either mean much.

Edit - there are not any black basal wing streaks which Dunkle says are alway present for Great Blue. The femurs are almost all black.

Edit 2 - On p. 417 of "Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East" by Dennis Paulson: "...(but female Slaty may have very pale face)..."

 
white face is vibrans
Great Blue is the only one with the white face, Slaty and Bar-winged are dark. The thoracic pattern is also distinctive, although I don't remember exactly which parts are off the top of my head.

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