A Bar-winged Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula axilena) was spotted along the shoreline of a small pond at an undisclosed location in Prince William County, Virginia USA.
This individual is a mature male, as indicated by his coloration and terminal appendages.
This mature male has mated many times, as indicated by the scratches on the light-blue pruinescence covering his abdomen.
Males that have mated often have marks on their abdomen where the female legs have scratched them. This is especially obvious in species in which males develop pruinosity, as the pruinosity on the mid-abdomen is scratched off, and the signs are visible at some distance. Source Credit: Paulson, Dennis (2011-12-19). Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East (Princeton Field Guides) (Kindle Locations 390-392). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
The next photo is full-frame (4,000 x 3,000 pixels), that is, uncropped.
Look closely along the leading edge of this individual’s wings. Notice the dark bars from which the common name for this species is derived are almost invisible.
Habitat
According to Dr. Steve Roble’s excellent datasets for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the adult flight period for Bar-winged Skimmer is from May 08 to September 28. Dr. Roble describes its habitat as “ponds.”
“Ponds” is perhaps too simple a descriptor for the habitat preferred by Bar-winged Skimmer, otherwise L. axilena should be more common than a map of its range suggests. Dennis Paulson provides a little more specificity.
Habitat: Wooded slow streams and sloughs, forest pools. Source Credit: Paulson, Dennis (2011-12-19). Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East (Princeton Field Guides) (Kindle Location 9152). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
Kevin Munroe, former manager at Huntley Meadows Park, provides the best description of Bar-winged Skimmer habitat that I’ve seen.
One of our less common skimmers, this dragonfly has relatively specific habitat needs. It prefers very shallow marshy pools in the full sun. If there’s enough water for fish, it’s too deep for Bar-winged Skimmers. And of course shallow pools in the full sun tend to quickly evaporate and dry up, so stable populations in Northern Va. are few and far between. The similar Great Blue Skimmer also likes shallow water, but is much more common. One reason being that they can handle partly shady forest pools and forest swamps, both too dark for Bar-wings. Source Credit: Bar-winged Skimmer, by Kevin Munroe.
I have observed Bar-winged Skimmer dragonflies at two locations in Huntley Meadows Park that provided habitat similar to Kevin’s recipe. Bar-winged Skimmer is no longer found at either place.
I have seen Bar-winged Skimmer at Sundew Bog, located in the Central Tract at Patuxent Research Refuge.
The Central Tract of the refuge is closed to public visitation due to the sensitive nature of much of the scientific work. Source Credit: Patuxent Research Refuge brochure.
Range map
Not all species of Skimmers are as common as I tend to think. For example, the following map shows all official records for Libellula axilena in the United States of America. As you can see, Bar-winged Skimmer is a relatively uncommon species of odonate.
What are the take-aways?
Many species of dragonflies in the Family Libellulidae (Skimmers) are habitat generalists and relatively easy to find almost anywhere there is water. In contrast, I think it’s fair to say Bar-winged Skimmer is a habitat specialist that is challenging to find.
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