Twelve-Spotted Skimmer

Male twelve-spotted skimmer perched on a plant stalk
Scientific Name
Libellula pulchella
Family
Libellulidae (skimmers) in the order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies)
Description

The twelve-spotted skimmer has twelve dark brown wing spots.

  • Males have eight additional spots that are white.
  • Females lack the white spots.
  • Young males that have recently emerged as adults resemble females, with brown bodies with a yellow stripe along each side of the abdomen. As the males mature, a whitish (pruinose) coating develops on their bodies that can be rubbed off. As the male ages, the white coating may begin to look bluish.

An older name for this dragonfly was the ten-spot skimmer. Apparently, people were counting the middle spots, closest to the body, as a single spot that stretches across from wing to wing, yielding five spots for the front pair of wings and five for the hindwings.

Learn more about this and other dragonflies on their group page.

Other Common Names
Ten-Spot Dragonfly
Media Gallery
Male twelve-spotted skimmer perched on a plant stalk
The twelve-spotted skimmer (Libellula pulchella) has twelve brown wing spots. Males, like this one, have eight more spots that are white.
Jim Rathert
Photo by Jim Rathert, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
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Twelve-spotted skimmer male perched on a small twig, viewed from side
As male twelve-spotted skimmers mature, a whitish coating develops on their bodies that can be rubbed off. As the male ages, the white coating may begin to look bluish.
Jim Rathert
Photo by Jim Rathert, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
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Male twelve-spotted skimmer perched on the tip of a plant, viewed from above
An older name for the twelve-spotted skimmer was the ten-spot skimmer. Apparently, people were counting the middle spots, closest to the body, as a single spot that stretches across from wing to wing.
Noppadol Paothong
Photo by Noppadol Paothong, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
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Male twelve-spotted skimmer perched on a plant stalk
Twelve-spotted skimmer male perched on a small twig, viewed from side
Male twelve-spotted skimmer perched on the tip of a plant, viewed from above
Similar Species
About Land Invertebrates in Missouri
Invertebrates are animals without backbones, including earthworms, slugs, snails, and arthropods. Arthropods—invertebrates with “jointed legs” — are a group of invertebrates that includes crayfish, shrimp, millipedes, centipedes, mites, spiders, and insects. There may be as many as 10 million species of insects alive on earth today, and they probably constitute more than 90 percent all animal species.
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