Common whitetail
Scientific name: Plathemis lydia (Drury, 1773)
Overview
The common whitetail or long-tailed skimmer is a common dragonfly across much of North America, with a striking and unusual appearance. The male's chunky white body, combined with the brownish-black bands on its otherwise translucent wings, give it a checkered look. Females have a brown body and a different pattern of wing spots, closely resembling that of female Libellula pulchella, the twelve-spotted skimmer. Whitetail females can be distinguished by their smaller size, shorter bodies, and white zigzag abdominal stripes; the abdominal stripes of L. puchella are straight and yellow.
From the Wikipedia article “Common whitetail”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Least concern on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: CA; MX; US; Sonora; Coahuila; Nuevo León; Baja California.
Common names
Also known in English as Common Whitetail or Long-tailed Skimmer.
Names in other languages (3)
- Chinese
- 普通白尾蜻
- German
- Libellula lydia
- Persian
- دمسفید معمولی
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The World Odonata List.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q141351, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Common whitetail”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
- Range map — Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026