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  10. ›Orthetrum
Blue Skimmer
Plate 1 of 9. (c) jmwatson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · via iNaturalist

Blue Skimmer

Orthetrum caledonicum

Orthetrum caledonicum, the blue skimmer, is a common Australian dragonfly in the family Libellulidae.

Males have a powder blue thorax and abdomen pruinescent blue when mature. The females are brownish grey in colour while the teneral are yellow with black markings. They are medium in size, with a body length of 4.5 cm (2 in) and a wingspan of 7 cm (3 in).

Continue reading on Wikipedia

From the article Orthetrum caledonicum on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section

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In human culture

The genus name Orthetrum is derived from the Greek ὀρθός (orthos, "straight") and ἦτρον (ētron, "abdomen"), referring to the parallel-sided abdomen of the genus. The species name caledonicum is named for New Caledonia, where the original specimens of the species were collected.

Wikipedia: “Etymology”

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Every page naming Orthetrum caledonicum in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 155504.