Skimmers facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Skimmers
Female Orthetrum chrysostigma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Infraorder:	Anisoptera
Family:	Libellulidae
Genus:	Orthetrum Newman, 1833

Orthetrum is a large genus of dragonflies in the Libellulidae family. They are commonly referred to as skimmers.

The size of adults within the genus ranges from small to large; in Africa, the hindwing ranges in length from 22 to 50 mm. The bodies of adult females and recently emerged males are yellow to brown with black markings; these may facilitate identification of individuals to species level. Mature males, however, develop blue-grey pruinosity over most of their bodies - this makes species identification difficult without the capture of a specimen and inspection of the shape of the hamule.

Species

The genus Orthetrum includes the following species:

Scientific name	Common name	IUCN Red List Status	Distribution	Picture (Male)	Picture (Female)
Orthetrum abbotti Calvert, 1892	Abbott's skimmer		Sub-Saharan Africa, Jordan and Yemen.
Orthetrum africanum (Selys, 1887)			Central and Western Africa
Orthetrum albistylum Selys, 1848	White-Tailed Skimmer		Europe to China and Japan
Orthetrum anceps (Schneider, 1845)			Europe, India, and northern Africa
Orthetrum angustiventre (Rambur, 1842)	Many-celled Skimmer		Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and possibly Tanzania.
Orthetrum austeni (Kirby, 1900)	Giant Skimmer
Orthetrum austrosundanum Lieftinck, 1953
Orthetrum azureum (Rambur, 1842)			Madagascar
Orthetrum balteatum Lieftinck, 1933	Speckled Skimmer
Orthetrum borneense Kimmins, 1936
Orthetrum boumiera Watson & Arthington, 1978	Brownwater Skimmer
Orthetrum brachiale (Palisot de Beauvois, 1805)	Tough Skimmer		Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Réunion, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, possibly Burundi, and possibly São Tomé and Príncipe
Orthetrum brunneum (Fonscolombe, 1837)	Southern Skimmer		Europe and the range extends to Mongolia and North Africa.
Orthetrum caffrum (Burmeister, 1839)	Two-striped Skimmer, White-lined Skimmer		Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, possibly Burundi, and possibly Gambia
Orthetrum caledonicum (Brauer, 1865)	Blue Skimmer
Orthetrum cancellatum (Linnaeus, 1758)	Black-Tailed Skimmer		Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France (Corsica, and mainland), Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey (Turkey-in-Europe), Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and in part of United Kingdom
Orthetrum capense Calvert, 1893
Orthetrum chrysis (Selys, 1891)
Orthetrum chrysostigma (Burmeister, 1839)	Epaulet Skimmer
Orthetrum coerulescens (Fabricius, 1798)	Keeled Skimmer
Orthetrum glaucum (Brauer, 1865)	Blue Marsh Hawk
Orthetrum guineense Ris, 1909	Guinea Skimmer		Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi
Orthetrum guptai Baijal, 1955
Orthetrum helena Buchholz, 1954
Orthetrum hintzi Schmidt, 1951	Hintz's Skimmer		Angola, Benin, Botswana, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi
Orthetrum icteromelas Ris, 1910	Spectacled Skimmer		Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi
Orthetrum japonicum (Uhler, 1858)
Orthetrum julia Kirby, 1900	Julia Skimmer		Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, possibly Burundi, and possibly Madagascar
Orthetrum kollmannspergeri Buchholz, 1959
Orthetrum kristenseni Ris, 1911			Ethiopia
Orthetrum latihami Pinhey, 1966			Central Africa
Orthetrum lemur Ris, 1909
Orthetrum lineostigma (Selys, 1886)
Orthetrum luzonicum (Brauer, 1868)
Orthetrum machadoi Longfield, 1955	Machado's Skimmer		Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi
Orthetrum macrostigma Longfield, 1947			Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and possibly Zambia
Orthetrum malgassicum Pinhey, 1970
Orthetrum martensi Asahina, 1978
Orthetrum melania (Selys, 1883)
Orthetrum microstigma Ris, 1911			Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia
Orthetrum migratum Lieftinck, 1951	Rosy Skimmer
Orthetrum monardi Schmidt, 1951			Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia
Orthetrum nitidinerve (Selys, 1841)	Yellow-Veined Skimmer
Orthetrum poecilops Ris, 1916	Mangrove Skimmer
Orthetrum pruinosum (Burmeister, 1839)	Crimson-tailed Marsh Hawk
Orthetrum ransonneti (Brauer, 1865)
Orthetrum robustum Balinsky, 1965	Robust Skimmer
Orthetrum rubens Barnard, 1937	Elusive Skimmer		South Africa
Orthetrum sabina (Drury, 1770)	Slender Skimmer
Orthetrum saegeri Pinhey, 1966			Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia
Orthetrum sagitta Ris, 1915	Arrow Skimmer		Sierra Leone
Orthetrum serapia Watson, 1984	Green Skimmer
Orthetrum signiferum Lieftinck, 1926
Orthetrum silvarum Lieftinck, 1934
Orthetrum stemmale (Burmeister, 1839)	Stemmale Skimmer		Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi
Orthetrum taeniolatum (Schneider, 1845)	Small Skimmer
Orthetrum testaceum (Burmeister, 1839)			India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Orthetrum translatum Bartenev, 1929
Orthetrum triangulare (Selys, 1878)	Blue-tailed Forest Hawk
Orthetrum trinacria (Selys, 1841)	Long Skimmer		Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, France (Corsica), Gambia, Ghana, Italy (Sicily and Sardinia), Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi
Orthetrum villosovittatum (Brauer, 1868)	Fiery Skimmer

See also

In Spanish: Orthetrum para niños