Alternate name: Long-tailed Skimmer

Family: Libellulidae, Common Skimmers view all from this family

Description 1 5/8-1 7/8" (42-48 mm), wingspan to 2 1/2-3" (65-75 mm). Head shiny brown. Thorax gray-brown, striped or spotted with white or yellow. Male's abdomen gleaming white; female's narrower and brown with row of yellow spots. Wings have broad dark band near tip and a small black area at base. Naiad, to 7/8" (21 mm), is dark brown.

Food Adult feeds on small flying insects. Naiad eats small aquatic insects.

Life Cycle Female hovers over water, touching surface repeatedly with abdominal tip to wash off 25-50 eggs, which hatch in about 5 days. Naiads prey in still, silty bottom.

Habitat Near ponds, slow streams, sheltered bays, and reedy shallows.

Range Nova Scotia to Florida, west to California, north to British Columbia.

Discussion The female Whitetail is often confused with the Twelve-spot Skimmer. The male Whitetail is often resting with its head down, abdomen raised, wings forward and drooping. The smaller Western Whitetail (P. subornata) is found near pools in deserts and semideserts from Nebraska to northern Mexico and Arizona, northwest to British Columbia.