Orthetrum chrysostigma

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Orthetrum chrysostigma
Orthetrum chrysostigma.jpg
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Family: Libellulidae
Genus: Orthetrum
Species: O. chrysostigma
Binomial name
Orthetrum chrysostigma
(Burmeister, 1839)
Orthetrum Chrysostigma from Canary Islands
young male
matured male

The Epaulet Skimmer, Orthetrum chrysostigma, is a species of dragonfly in family Libellulidae. It is found in Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi as well as Canary Islands and Portugal. It was recently recorded in the Maltese Islands in 2010.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, rivers, intermittent rivers, shrub-dominated wetlands, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and freshwater springs. The adults prey on various flying insects, with the bodies of the males being vivid blue and those of the females a bright green color.


GAUCI, C. & SCIBERRAS, A. (2010) First Records of Orthetrum chrysostigma (Odonata:Libellulidae) Burmeister, 1839 in the Maltese Islands. Central Mediterranean Naturalist 5(2):78-80. Nature Trust Malta publications.