Widow Skimmer Macro Monday

The skimmer, or Libelleulidae, family of dragonflies is the largest in North America. There are over 100 different type of skimmers found in North America and over 1000 world wide. Here in my area we have around 28 different types of skimmers.

When most overage people think of dragonflies they usually think of skimmers. Skimmers are typically stout dragons that are very colorful. Many have stripes or other colored patterns on their wings. They are pond dragons so they are usually found around stagnant ponds or pools.
One of the most common and most recognizable skimmers is the widow skimmer. They have a unique wing pattern with the base of the wing, up until the nodus, shaded black. In males the remainder of the wing turns white due to pruinose, a powdery white substance that covers parts of certain types of dragonflies as they age. Females, as you can see in the first couple of pics are mostly yellow and black and are not affected by pruinose.