Fiery Skimmer

Orthetrum villosovittatum · Order: Odonata · Family: Libellulidae

Also called: Firery Skimmer

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

Mature males have dark grey-green thoraxes and red abdomens, while young males are amber-black and females are ochre. It lives around boggy seepages, streams and swamps in the Moluccas, New Guinea, nearby islands and eastern Australia.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Mature males show dark grey-green to brown thoraxes and bright red abdomens, with a narrowed fourth abdominal segment; young males are amber-black, and females are ochre-coloured.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

The species is medium-sized with a wingspan ranging from 60 to 85 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It prefers wet habitats such as boggy seepages, streams and swamps.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its natural distribution includes the Moluccas, New Guinea and surrounding islands.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

The fiery skimmer belongs to the dragonfly family Libellulidae.

Source: Wikipedia

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_villosovittatum

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.

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