Full lateral View
![lateral view of Whitetail](../../images/insects_other/d_whitetail_desert_fe_018.jpg)
Female Face
![Female Face](../../images/insects_other/d_whitetail_desert_fe_022.jpg)
Lateral View of Thorax and Abdomen
Dorsal View of Thorax
![Dorsal View of Thorax](../../images/insects_other/d_whitetail_desert_fe_007.jpg)
Close-up of Thorax and
First Two Segments
![underside](../../images/insects_other/d_whitetail_desert_fe_006.jpg)
Front of Face
![Female face](../../images/insects_other/d_whitetail_desert_fe_010.jpg)
Appendages
![appendages](../../images/insects_other/d_whitetail_desert_fe_002.jpg)
![appendages](../../images/insects_other/d_whitetail_desert_fe_004.jpg)
Photos - ©Nicky Davis
Location - James Walter Fitzgerald Wild Bird Refuge,
Tooele
County, Utah, 9 August 2010
Characteristics
- Male
has pruinose
abdomen
- Female
brown body
with yellow side
dashes
- Thorax
has two
yellow stripes on dorsal and
two on each side
- Females
and
immatures have a stripe at the
wing base, a band at the nodus and another at inner side of the stigma
- In
males the space
between nodus band and
the outer band fills in with slightly lighter brown and inner
wing may turn white
- Tip
of wings are
clear
- Face
is yellow
- This one is
1 1/2" long with a 2 inch
wing span
Dennis Paulson verified identification
"Skimmers don't have ovipositors, but they have a genital opening in
the back of segment 8 which is bordered by a pair of subgenital plates
or vulvar laminae. They are variously developed, and in species
in which they are quite large, they support a ball of eggs before they
are laid. A good rule of thumb is that if you can't see
male genitalia, it isn't a male. Females of most skimmers have
abdomens that are less tapered to a point than in males."
Utah Range Map
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