ODONATES: A Beauty of Nature

Asian widow or blue-tailed yellow skimmer (female), Palpopleura sexmaculata, Libellulidae  

Sipadol, Suryabinayak, Bhaktapur, September 20, 2020.

Palpopleura sexmaculata, commonly known as the Asian widow or blue-tailed yellow skimmer, is a species of dragonfly in the family Liellulidae. It is widespread in several countries in South, East, and Southeast Asia, but is no longer believed to occur in Sri Lanka. 

It is a small dragonfly with brown-capped greenish eyes. Its thorax is greenish yellow and hind-wings are usually tinted with yellow from the base. Pterostigma is black in adults bi-colored in juveniles and sub-adults as in females. Its abdomen is pruinosed with light blue, leaving segments 1-3 as yellow. Sub-adult males and females are yellow. The pterostigma of the female is bi-colored with half black and half yellow. It breeds in marshy areas and small pools in the hills.