Bug FAQEastern Amberwing
Perithemis tenera · Order: Odonata · Family: Libellulidae
The eastern amberwing is a very small dragonfly, only about 25 mm long. Males have orange-amber wings and both sexes show a red spot on the wing tip. It lives across eastern North America, from northern Mexico up to southeastern Canada.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males display orange or amber wings, likely due to pheomelanin. Both males and females have a red pterostigma on the wings.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range covers eastern North America, from northern Mexico up to southeastern Canada.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
The eastern amberwing is one of the few dragonflies that actively mimics a wasp.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 43 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Ohio, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, New York.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; 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/Eastern_amberwing
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.