Elfin Skimmer

Nannothemis bella · Order: Odonata · Family: Libellulidae

Also called: Bluebell Skimmer

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Elfin Skimmer
Photo: Nick Block, CC BY

Male elfin skimmers are a powdery blue color, while females are black and yellow and look like a wasp. They are found naturally in the eastern United States and Canada.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Males are powdery blue; females are black and yellow and resemble a wasp.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 24 of 51 states and DC. Most records: New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, Vermont, Maryland, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New York.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Elfin Skimmer photo 3
Photo: unknown, CC0
Elfin Skimmer photo 4
Photo: Matt Muir, CC BY
Elfin Skimmer photo 5
Photo: Nick Block, CC BY
Elfin Skimmer photo 6
Photo: Matt Muir, 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/Nannothemis

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

Text written 2026-10-23 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.