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Photo#424665
Dragonfly? - Libellula incesta - female

Dragonfly? - Libellula incesta - Female
New York, USA
Unsure what type of dragonfly this is. Can anyone help me out? Thanks!

Location?
Can you comment on where the photo was taken in New York, Micaela? I see that you're from upstate. Bar-winged is unrecorded in upstate New York, which would strongly support the ID of Slaty. Slaty can show some wing markings like this on occasion.

ID Question
I'm with Aaron questioning this ID.

Quoting from the New Jersey Field Guide...'The Bar-winged Skimmer is well named for its unique wing pattern. The wings have a dark line at the base, a bar extending from the nodus toward the stigma and darkened tips.'...'Both sexes of the Slaty Skimmer lack basal black bars and nodal spots on the wings'.

The basal bars, nodal spots, node to stigma lines and dark tips are all evident. Both the Bar-winged and Slaty have similar body and eye coloring when seen from above so I'm not sure what has uniquely identified this as a Slaty.

Moved
Moved from Dragonflies.

 
ID question
Could you comment on why this is a Slaty and not a Bar-winged? I'm familiar with Slaty and this bug strikes me as very heavily marked on the wings for that species. It may well be one, but I'm interested to know how you are ruling out Bar-winged. Thanks.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

I am pretty sure
that this is a female Slaty Skimmer like this one:


 
agree
I agree, it fits Slaty Skimmer, Libellula incesta

 
Or...
It may be a Bar-winged Skimmer.

Where in New York?
I'm not qualified, but looking at a field guide there's a resemblance to a few of the female skimmers in the Libellula genus. Take a look and see what you think.

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