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- This page contains pictures and information about Percher, Skimmer and Glider Dragonflies
that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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 - Mating couple
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- The dragonflies in this family are usually with distinctly broadened abdomen. They are
from small to large in size, with body length 20-60 mm and wings span 30-100 mm. Their body is distinctively
shorter than their wings span. They are usually
red, yellow or blue in colour. Some species have wings patterns. The males are often brightly colored and tend to perch in the open on exposed
branches, logs, or sandy shorelines.
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 - Black-headed Skimmer - a common Skimmer dragonfly in Brisbane
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- The Percher or Skimmer spend more time at rest than the dragonflies in other families.
Most of them perch with the body horizontal with wings outstretched. Some of
them holding the abdomen angled upward and some with wings forward and depressed.
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  - Larval exuviae of Skimmer Dragonflies, length 25mm
-
 
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- The males are territorial and will
often return to the same or a nearby spot. This makes taking their photos much
easier than the other families. Female usually less colourful than male but with the same wings
markings. They prefer pond instead of fast running water. Females oviposit alone or in the company of guarding males. She dips the
abdomen in the water for releasing the eggs.
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- Common Archtail, Stream Watcher
 - Nannophlebia risi, body Length 32mm
- This is a small dragonfly found in Bulimba Creek. The
dragonfly is black and yellow in colour, slender-bodied, the last few
segments of the abdomen swollen like a clubtail dragonfly. Its two eyes are
in contact and green in colour like a emerald dragonfly. However, it belong
to the family Libellulidae (skimmer).
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- Black-headed Skimmer, Blue Scarlet
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- Crocothemis nigrifrons, matured male, young male, body length 45mm
- The male dragonfly has black thorax and blue abdomen, with a black
line on the back along the top of abdomen. The males change their colour
when they become matured. The matured mates are powdered blue in colour.
Before they become matured, they are yellow brown. Which is the same colour
as the female. More information please click here.
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- Blue Skimmer
Dragonfly,
Sky
Blue Dragonfly
 - Orthetrum caledonicum, male, female, body length 45mm
- This dragonfly is common in Brisbane. They can be found in almost every
ponds. The males have grey blue thorax and abdomen, with dark colour on
abdomen tip. They fly amount the low
vegetation over the pond. They usually return to the same spots after a
short flight. Females are greenish-yellow in colour. More information on Blue
Skimmer page.
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- Fiery Skimmer, Bog Skimmer Dragonfly
 - Orthetrum villosovittatum, female, male, body length 45mm
- The above pictures show a female, which is bright yellow to
yellowish-brown in colour, and a male which is bright red in colour.
Their thorax are dark in colour. The wings of
females are yellowish-brown. They can be found over still or slow flowing
water. More information please visit this page.
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- Slender Skimmer
 - Orthetrum sabina, body length 50mm
- Slender Skimmer is yellow to greenish yellow in colour, with black markings.
There are yellow and black strips on the body sides and brown spot at base of
hindwings. They are usually found on shallow still water. More pictures and
information can be found in this page.
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- Palemouth, Palemouth Shorttail Dragonfly
 - Brachydiplax denticauda,
body length 35mm
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The dragonfly has the light blue body with black tip. It head is dark metallic
colour. It is a small dragonfly. This dragonfly can only be found on ponds and still waters. They fly in a
short distance and always return to the same perch. The above pictures was taken
in a pond in Wishart in a hot summer afternoon.
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- Scarlet Percher
 - Diplacodes haematodes, male, female, body length 35mm
- The male Scarlet Percher Dragonflies have the red eyes, red face, red thorax
and red abdomen. There are no markings on their abdomen. There are also the reddish suffusions on their wing bases.
The females are pale yellow in colour. This
dragonfly like to perch on creek stone or sand bed. They can be found near the ponds along Bulimba
Creek in Brisbane. There are more information on the Scarlet
Percher page.
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- Wandering Percher, Common Percher
 - Diplacodes bipunctata, male, female, body length 32mm
- The Common Percher Dragonfly is small in size. The matured male dragonfly has the red eyes, red face, red thorax
and red abdomen., with red mark on the wing tips. The immature male has the
same colour as female. They are sandy yellow. Both have shiny black markings on the back of
abdomen. Notice their abdomen are a bit narrower at the middle. More
information on the Wandering Percher page.
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- Black Faced Percher
 - Diplacodes Melanopsis, tandem pair, female, body length 35mm
- This red dragonfly male is easily recognized for his all black face. Males
have red adbomen marked with board black band on each segment. Females are
similar but abdomen is orange-grey to greenish-grey and face with lighter
colours. They are found only in large still waters and not in the running
creeks. More pictures and information can be found in this page.
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- Red Arrow
 - Rhodothemis lieftincki, body length 40mm
- Red Arrow has the straight long triangle like an arrow head. There is the
orange smoky triangular suffusion at the hindwing base. Female is orange in
colour. More details please check our Red Arrow
page.
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- Graphic Flutterer, Banded Flutterer
  - Rhyothemis graphiptera, body length 33mm
- This dragonfly is very easy to recognize. Its body is shorter than its
wingspread. The two pairs of wings are in gold colour with brown pattern. We
see a lot of these dragonflies flying around in Macgregor Park. More
information and pictures can be found in this page.
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- Yellow-striped Flutterer
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- Rhyothemis phyllis, body length 40mm
- This dragonfly flies with fluttering in a slow speed, gliding most of the
time. Its wings are much longer than its body. This dragonfly is easily recognized.
The head and body are dark brown in colour. It wings are clear, with black
tips and striped patterns on hind-wings. We found many of them near Oxley Creek in
Brisbane. More information click here.
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- Red Baron
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- Urothemis aliena, female, body length 50mm
- This is a NEQ species and considered rare in South-east Queensland. The
rounded deep solid red suffusion in base of hindwings distinguished the Red Baron
from other dragonflies. We found this dragonfly only once. Details please
find in this page.
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- Red Swamp Dragon
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- Agrionoptera insignis allogenes, body length 50mm
- The Red Swamp Dragon is a medium size dragonfly with slender red abdomen.
The abdomen tip is black in colour. The head and thorax is light bright
green. Please check this page for more
information.
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- Short-tailed Duskdarter, Stout Duskdarter Dragonfly
- Zyxomma elgneri, male, female, body length 45mm
- The Short-tailed Duskdarter Dragonfly is dark brown in colour, with dark colour
on all wing tips. Their eyes are green in colour. They do no look like
skimmers although they are in FAMILY LIBELLULIDAE. Their abdomen is slender
and longer than their wings. They do not perch and active during the
evening. More information please
click on here.
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- Water Prince Dragonfly
- Hydrobasileus brevistylus , female,
male, body length 50mm
- We saw this Water Prince Dragonfly a few times while it was laying
eggs alone on creek and small ponds in mid summer. They are large
dragonflies
with strong body. Its abdomen is black with yellow spots. More information
click on here.
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- Common Glider
  - Tramea loewii (Trapezostigma loewii), female, male, body length 50m
- The male Common Glider has the red abdomen with black tip while female is
brown and dark brown. Their hind wing bases are
dark red in colour while the rest of its wings are clear. The dragonflies fly,
usually glide, high above ground near the creek. Sometimes they rest high on the leafless
tree top. Click here for more pictures
and information.
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- Reference:
- 1. The Australian Dragonflies - CSIRO, Watson, Theisinger & Abbey,1991,
p235.
- 2. A Field Guide to Dragonflies of South East Queensland - Ric
Nattrass, 2006, p82.
- 3. The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia - CSIRO, Günther Theischinger and John Hawking, 2006,
p256.
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