Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) » Dragonflies (Anisoptera) » Skimmers (Libellulidae) » Nannothemis

Genus Nannothemis

Elfin Skimmer Nanothemis bella - Nannothemis bella - female

Elfin Skimmer - Nannothemis bella - male

Nannothemis bella - Elfin Skimmer - teneral female - Nannothemis bella

Elfin Skimmer - Nannothemis bella - female

Black and yellow banded dragonfly - Nannothemis bella - female

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 Nannothemis

Explanation of Names

Author of genus is Brauer, 1868. From nanno (or nano, from Greek, meaning little old man, or dwarf), plus the ubiquitous suffix -themis. This is from Greek, first used by Hagen in 1861, and it means "what has been established", i.e., rule, or law. Themis was also a goddess of order and justice. However, it is possible the suffix was also simply based on the Greek suffixes -hemis (half), or -emis. See this Odonata list post by KD Dijkstra.

Numbers

One North American species, Nannothemis bella.

Contributed by john and jane balaban on 5 February, 2005 - 8:14pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Ben Coulter, Abigail Parker
Last updated 27 January, 2012 - 10:19am

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