New dragonflies continue to emerge as we move deeper into spring and yesterday I spotted my first Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) of the season, a strikingly beautiful young male. It’s easy to tell that this one is a male because the female does not have the white spots. Local dragonfly expert and fellow photographer and blogger, Walter Sanford, commented to me that, “This guy is a “freshie.” His abdomen will turn white with pruinescence when he matures.”
I am a curious guy and I started to wonder how you are supposed to count the spots to get to the twelve in this species’ name. Do the white ones count? Do the interconnected brown ones in the middle count as one or as two? Who decides?
This is not as simple as it seems and this species is sometimes known as the Ten-spotted Skimmer. Really? A bugguide.net article explains it this way:
“Once upon a time, this was the Ten-spot(ted) Skimmer, and formerly appeared in most books under that common name. To make it so, the basal spot of opposite wings was counted as one spot crossing the thorax (and so it appears at a glance, especially when they are flying or seen from a distance). Some authors rationalize it as counting the cloudy white spots on the wings, but that’s only good for mature males, and it often doesn’t work (there are often only eight white spots, the two at the base of the hind wing either missing or having been rubbed off).”
Confused? Hopefully we all can agree on the distinctive beauty of the species.
I’ll be keeping my eyes open for more of these dragonflies, although I learned yesterday from Kevin Munroe’s wonderful Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website that it is unusual to see more than a few of them at any one site. Apparently the Twelve-spotted Skimmers are a bit more picky about their habitat needs than many of the other skimmers in our area.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I can’t believe how much further ahead your season is. I’ve only seen the darners at the pond, and just a couple of butterfly species. Nice explanation of those spots, Mike. I used to wonder that too, why not 8-spot (for the white), or 10-spot for the darks. But then I rarely understand the names they give birds, let alone insects!
Wow! Great capture. I’ve never seen a dragonfly anything like this. It’s very striking. Bonus points for getting the word “pruinescence” into a blog post.
Thanks, Laura. I was pretty excited when I spotted this dragonfly, because it’s a species that I don’t see often. Credit for “pruinescence” goes to my friend Walter, a retired science teacher. The word is not part of my everyday vocabulary.
Happy to see you back in your favorite element, Mike. Until today, all I’ve seen up here in northern Minnesota are midges and mosquitoes, but today I saw my first crane fly. It shouldn’t be too long though, once the weather warms up for good.
Our weather here recently has been summer-like, with highs in the mid to upper 80’s and humid. We now have a full range of insects and I suspect that you will catch up soon.
Gorgeous! The wings look like they’re painted!
Thanks, Carol. Many of the dragonflies have subtle colors in their wings, but I love the bold patterns that these ones have (and it makes them easy to identify).
That’s a perfect shot of a dragonfly that I’m hoping to see soon. It’s a beautiful creature.
Precious and a great shot!
Thanks so much. I was thrilled when I spotted this dragonfly and chase it around for quite a while before I managed to get this shot.