Blue Skimmer

Orthetrum caledonicum · Order: Odonata · Family: Libellulidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Blue Skimmer
Photo: Graham Winterflood, CC BY-SA

The Blue Skimmer is a medium-sized dragonfly about 4.5 cm long with a 7 cm wingspan. Males turn powder-blue when mature, while females are brown-grey and young ones are yellow with black marks. It lives around still and flowing waters, including temporary pools, across mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and nearby islands.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Males get a powder-blue thorax and abdomen when they mature; females stay brown-grey, and young ones are yellow with black markings.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Adults are about 4.5 cm long and have a wingspan of roughly 7 cm.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

They are found near both still and flowing water, even in temporary water bodies.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Their range includes mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Blue Skimmer photo 3
Photo: Kerri-Lee Harris, CC BY

Same family (Libellulidae)

Blue DasherBlue DasherPachydiplax longipennisEastern PondhawkEastern PondhawkErythemis simplicicollisCommon WhitetailCommon WhitetailPlathemis lydiaWidow SkimmerWidow SkimmerLibellula luctuosaAutumn MeadowhawkAutumn MeadowhawkSympetrum vicinumCommon DarterCommon DarterSympetrum striolatum

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthetrum_caledonicum

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.