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Common Whitetail female

Plathemis lydia

Photo by joanbstanley
Published on Project Noah
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33.0851, -97.0685

Field Notes

Description:

Males and females have different wing patterns.
Immature males have the same body pattern as females but the same wing pattern as mature males.
'tween' males have abdomens that are beginning to turn blue, but the adolescent body pattern still shows through the blue
Mature males have a short, stout abdomen that is completely chalky blue-white covering the adolescent pattern:
Females have a short, stout abdomen with several oblique dorsolateral white or pale yellow markings against a brown ground color; each wing has three black evenly-spaced blotches.

Habitat:

Trickle trough in greenbelt area running through housing development.

Notes:

While this female was laying eggs, the male was hovering above her, unfortunately I didn't manage to catch that picture.

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