Bug FAQPurple Skimmer
Libellula jesseana · Order: Odonata · Family: Libellulidae
Adult purple skimmers are about 5 cm long and males have a powdery blue thorax and abdomen with orange wings. They live around clear, sandy-bottomed lakes with maidencane and nearby open woodland or shrubland for foraging, and they are found only in Florida, USA. Nymphs eat almost any small aquatic invertebrate, while adults catch insects they see; the life cycle lasts about a year with adults flying from mid-April to mid-September and being active during the day.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males have a powdery blue thorax and abdomen with orange wings. Females may look like the males or may be overall golden, similar to the golden-winged skimmer.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults are about 5 cm long.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They live around clear, sandy-bottomed lakes with infertile water, often with maidencane, sedges or St. John’s wort at the shore. Open woodland or shrubland nearby provides foraging sites.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Nymphs eat almost any small aquatic invertebrate, and adults catch insects they locate visually.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The life cycle lasts about a year; nymphs overwinter and adults are on the wing from mid-April through mid-September.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are active during the day. They fly from mid-April through mid-September.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species is found only in Florida, USA.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Females can be mistaken for males or for the golden-winged skimmer, which is entirely golden.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 2 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Florida, Michigan.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: endemic in North America; endemic in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
When are purple skimmers active?
Adults are active during daylight hours and are on the wing from mid-April through mid-September.
Source: Wikipedia
Where can I find purple skimmers?
They are endemic to Florida and are found around clear, sandy-bottomed lakes with maidencane and nearby open woodland or shrubland.
Source: Wikipedia
How can I tell a female purple skimmer from a golden-winged skimmer?
Female purple skimmers may be overall golden, looking like the golden-winged skimmer, which is uniformly golden in color.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Libellulidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libellula_jesseana
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-27 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-27.