Things are not always as they seem. When I spotted this Widow Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula luctuosa) last Friday at the edge of a pond in Fairfax County, I thought for a moment that it might be a female. After all, females have yellow and brown bodies and have one large dark blotch per wing, while males have blue bodies and have one dark and one light blotch per wing.
However, immature male Widow Skimmers look a lot like females, as is the case with many dragonfly species. The colors of “fresh” dragonflies tend to be pale and wing patterns may not have developed fully yet, so you cannot rely exclusively on those markings for identification.
The first photo below provides a pretty clear view of the “claspers” at the tip of the abdomen, which indicates that this is a male—the terminal appendages are often the most important indication of the gender of a dragonfly. For comparison purposes I have included a photo of a mature male Widow Skimmer at this same location from a 2019 posting entitled Male Widow Skimmer dragonfly. It may be a little hard to envision, but the dragonfly in the first photo will eventually grow to look like the one in the second image.
You may wonder why this species is called a “Widow Skimmer.” Someone apparently thought the dark patches on the wings looked like the mourning crepe that historically widows wore. Even the Latin name “luctuosa” means “sorrowful.”
I used to hesitate a bit when I used the the words male and widow together, wondering if perhaps I should call a male of this species a Widower Skimmer. Over time I have gotten used to this seeming incongruity and now I even happily speak about male damselflies. I wonder how those guys feel about being called damsels.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Beauties.
Send this one over to Monty Python Mike. They will put those male damselflies into plaid lumberjack shirts and make them sing…
I love the Monty Python sense of humor and now have the image implanted in my head of plaid-shirted singing damselflies. 🙂
What a stunning pair of photos, Mike, and I would never have thought they were the same species. Thanks so much for sharing this brief lesson in the widow skimmers. Enjoyed the humor too. I found the first photo absolutely mesmerizing.
Thanks, Jet. The first photo was the new one and I was amazed at how transparent the wings still were when I took the shot–you can see the entire shape of the vegetation through them, even the dark sections. I’ve learned a lot about dragonflies over the past few years and love sharing some of that knowledge in easily digestible bites, thereby helping viewers to get a sense of what I see when I look at a dragonfly.
Great photos, Mike. I appreciate the information.
These are one of the first dragonflies I learned to identify so I have a special appreciation for them. And you got two fine shots at different times.Since most often in nature males are the “pretty” ones I bet they don’t mind at all.
Beautiful images with wonderful detail and great info, Mike. I like how the first one is hanging onto the side of the leaf and that the leaf and other greenery shows different colors through the wing, very nice!
Wonderful shots and so much details.
Very nice Mike! Great images!
Thanks, Reed. Here’s hoping we both have the chance to see lots of dragonflies in the near future.