Complete Guide To The Widow Skimmer Dragonfly

Widow Skimmer Dragonfly Notes

• Widow Skimmer dragonflies are common in North Carolina.
  • Look for them near still water, like ponds and lakes.
• While both sexes forage far from water, males congregate near the shoreline, especially when breeding.
• Male Widow Skimmer dragonflies are territorial and will fly out to harass other dragonflies but have a unique way of establishing and defending their territories.
  • When only a few males are around, each individual male Widow Skimmer will defend his own 250 yard (229 m) wide territory.
    • Each male defends his chosen territory throughout the day but may establish a totally different area to defend the next day (Dunkle 2000).
  • When lots of males are in the same area, they establish a “pecking order” or dominance hierarchy. Several male Widow Skimmers may defend the same territory against intruders, but only the dominant male of the group actually mates (Dunkle 2000).
• All odonates (i.e. dragonflies and damselflies) hunt by sight using their tremendous, large, compound eyes but are divided into three informal groups based on their hunting technique.
  • “Hawkers” fly around to search for flying insects and catch them on the wing.
  • “Gleaners” pluck their prey off the substrate.
  • “Salliers” watch the landscape from a stationary perch and take off in pursuit of flying insects.
    • Widow Skimmer dragonflies are “salliers” and visually assess the distance between themselves and potential prey when deciding whether to take off in pursuit of potential prey.
    • One study of Widow Skimmer dragonflies, researchers tested the dragonflies’ responses to 169 presentations of glass beads, which simulated prey. The beads ranged in size from 0.5 mm to 8 mm in diameter and were dangled from special fishing poles above perched Widow Skimmers.
      • The Widow Skimmers took off in pursuit of the beads 88 times (52% of the 169 offerings), ignored the 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm beads completely, pursued the 2.5 mm beads the most, and were clearly able to discriminate across distances of about 1 meter (Olberg et al. 2005, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-005-0002-8).