Red dragonfly in Colorado Bend State Park, Texas


Dragon flies are not my area of expertise:  Can anyone identify this beauty?

Red Dragonfly in Colorado Bend State Park, Texas (photo by Ed Darrell)

Red dragonfly in Colorado Bend State Park, Texas - photo by Ed Darrell

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Kate wrote in to say it’s probably Libella saturata.  From other photos I’ve found, that seems a good, accurate identification.  Citizens of Arizona have been urged to help identify dragon flies, odonates,  in their state, and this site explains how to do it with a camera and a notepad — with a fine picture of a Libella saturata for illustration.  And, as a reward to Kate and yourself, you may want to hop over to her blog, The Radula, and see what she’s got to look at.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 9th, 2011 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Entomology, Natural history, Nature, photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to Red dragonfly in Colorado Bend State Park, Texas

  1. Judith Stevens says:
    August 19, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    An Audubon birding and dragonfly expert suggested the following:
    Golden-winged skimmer, flame skimmer, or Needham’s skimmer.
    With a photo and a book, perhaps you can ID your specie.

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  2. mpb says:
    August 11, 2011 at 10:00 pm

    There is a wonderful book on Texas dragonflies, A Dazzle of Dragonflies – http://www.amazon.com/Dazzle-Dragonflies-Forrest-L-Mitchell/dp/1585444596/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1313117936&sr=8-4

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  3. Ed Darrell says:
    August 10, 2011 at 7:35 am

    Thank you, Kate!

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  4. Kate says:
    August 10, 2011 at 7:30 am

    Tim, it looks like a Flame Skipper (Libellula saturata) they’re fairly common, known mostly for their coloration, and have a bit of diversity when it comes to their wing coloration pattern. I’ve photographed quite a few of them at the botanical gadens at the BioPark.

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