Bug FAQCommon Whitetail
Plathemis lydia · Order: Odonata · Family: Libellulidae
The common whitetail dragonfly is found near ponds, marshes and slow rivers across most of North America and hunts small insects. Males have a chunky white body about 5 cm long with dark bands on translucent wings, while females are brown with distinct wing spots and white zig-zag abdominal stripes.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males show a white body with brown-black wing bands; females are brown with a different wing-spot pattern. Female whitetails are smaller, have shorter bodies and white zig-zag abdominal stripes, unlike the straight yellow stripes of similar skimmers.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Males are about 5 cm (2 in) long.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They fly over ponds, marshes and slow rivers, and often rest on nearby objects or the ground.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Nymphs are dark green or brown, live among algae and eat aquatic insects, small crayfish, tadpoles and minnows.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Most of their life is spent as aquatic nymphs with very high mortality, and the adult stage lasts only a few weeks.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
In California adults are active from April to September; timing varies elsewhere.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
They are common across much of North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Females can be confused with female twelve-spotted skimmers but are smaller and have zig-zag abdominal stripes.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 49 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Libellulidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_whitetail
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.