Common whitetail Dragonfly

Like many dragonfly species, the name of the dragonfly, the common whitetail, pretty much describes it.

Common whitetails (Plathemis lydia) are among the most ordinary dragonflies across the United States.

They are part of the better skimmer family, and merely one of two members of the Plathemis genus of whitetails.

The adult male, sports a white tail. The picture above shows a gray white abdomen and yellow spots on the rear of the head.

Females of the species split a similar abdomen pattern, without the white cover.

They can easily be mistaken for eight-spotted skimmers because they also contain eight spots on their wings, so the white spots the length of the sides of the abdomen serve as better field recognition clues.