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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) » Dragonflies (Anisoptera) » Skimmers (Libellulidae) » Libellula » Needham's Skimmer (Libellula needhami)
Photo#702500
Golden-winged or Needhams’? - Libellula needhami - male
Copyright © 2012 nvhamlett@gmail.com

Golden-winged or Needhams’? - Libellula needhami - Male
Spanish Fort, Baldwin County, Alabama, USA
July 27, 2012
A red skimmer spotted at 5 Rivers - Alabama's Delta Resource Center during Bug Swarm 2012. I am not sure whether this is Libellula needhami or L. auripennis. As seen in the detail photo of the left wing, the color on the leading edge of the forewing does appear to change slightly at the node indicating L. needhami, but I think there are only 3 paranal cells proximal to the anal loop, which suggests L. auripennis. Some L needhami, however, have 3 on one wing and four on the other as shown in some of these examples and this individual. The BugGuide data also suggest that L needhami is more common in Alabama. (Note: this interpretation of the data isn't quite right – see comments below.)

gathering_2012

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Golden-winged or Needhams’? - Libellula needhami - male Golden-winged or Needhams'? - Libellula needhami - male
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Contributed by nvhamlett@gmail.com on 11 September, 2012 - 1:13am
Last updated 11 September, 2012 - 7:07pm

Moved
Moved from Libellula.
… nvhamlett@gmail.com, 11 September, 2012 - 7:07pm login or register to post comments

We don't know that needhami is necessarily more common
in Alabama, but our understanding is that it is more common near the coast than auripennis, so it is coastal vs interior. And yes, we would say this is needhami
… john and jane balaban, 11 September, 2012 - 10:40am login or register to post comments

 
Ah ha!
After looking at the Alabama data again, I think I jumped to a wrong conclusion because of the distribution of Alabama BugGuide contributors, rather than the abundance of the two species in the state. As of now, BugGuide has 14 reports of L. needhami from Alabama – only 1 from the interior (Auburn) and 13 from the Mobile area – 9 from the 2012 Bug Swarm and 4 from a certain prolific contributor from Mobile. The one Alabama report of L. auripennis is from Auburn. So it seems very likely that this is L. needhami.
… nvhamlett@gmail.com, 11 September, 2012 - 7:02pm login or register to post comments

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