The Fiery Skimmer Dragonfly is a brightly coloured dragonfly. The male has a dark thorax and a bright red abdomen
and the female has a brownish orange thorax and abdomen. The abdomen is narrower near the front.
The two pairs of wings are about the same size with a wingspan of about 7cms. The wings are transparent with a fine lattice pattern of veins; there is a small black patch on the leading edge of each wing near the wing tip. Its size is 45mm and it is found around creeks, swamps and boggy ground. The adult dragonflies feed on flying insects. The female lays her eggs in the water dipping her abdomen in the water to lay the eggs.
These dragonflies are found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, the Northern Territory and parts of Western Australia. They are also found in Papua New Guinea.
Thank you to 'ozanimals' for this information and the picture.
hari Om
ReplyDeleteOOhooohhhoohhh - NOW I know what it is!! I photo'd one of these back in November (SEE HERE). Ta for naming it! YAM xx
Always happy to oblige. lol So glad I supplied the answer you were seeking. Lovely photograph. xx
DeleteI do love dragonflies. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have them in Perth now. The sprayed for Argentine ants back in the '40s and there were no more dragonflies, praying manthis or grasshoppers, With them went the willie wagtails as their source of food had disappeared. We are glad the willie wagtails have eventually come back right down to the coast but we rarely see any of the hopping or flying creatures any more.
DeleteI love dragonflies. I had several that would skim around the bird bath I used to have and also hover around the pot plants after watering. Yesterday while I was out I noticed a dragonfly buzzing on the ground, upside down, I righted her as gently as I could, but she had a broken leg and I think a damaged wing. I held her for a bit, then put her in a tree. I wish I'd had my camera with me.
ReplyDeleteI can remembers dragonflies skimming ponds etc and they were beautiful but you will see from my comment above that we don't have them here now which is a great pity. I guess DDT and dieldrin weren't considered so dangerous way back then.
DeleteThat is wonderful that you cared for the injured dragonfly and one can only hope she survived. Perhaps next time there is a dragonfly you will have your camera at the ready.