- Animals
- ›Arthropods
- ›Hexapods
- ›Insects
- ›Winged and Once-winged Insects
- ›Dragonflies and Damselflies
- ›Dragonflies
- ›Libelluloidea
- ›Skimmers
- ›Brachydiplax

Oriental Blue Dasher
Brachydiplax chalybea
Brachydiplax chalybea is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is known by the common names yellow-patched lieutenant, rufous-backed marsh hawk, and blue dasher. It is native to much of eastern Asia, from India to Japan to Indonesia. It is common and widespread.
From the article Brachydiplax chalybea on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The male of the species is 33 to 35 millimeters long and has a hindwing 24 to 27 millimeters long. It is powder blue with light brown sides and a dark tip to the abdomen. Wings are hyaline, with tinted burnt-brown base, fading to amber. The female is brownish yellow in color with darker markings along the dorsal abdomen. Its wings lack the yellow tinge. This species can be easily distinguished from other species in this genus by its larger size, characteristic colour of the thorax, and bases of wings.
This species is found in many types of wet habitat, including brackish and disturbed waters. The males are seen more often, due to their territorial behavior. Females oviposit by "flicking" an egg mass out of the water into rocks and vegetation nearby.
Wikipedia: “Description and habitat”
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Brachydiplax chalybea 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 95964.