This week for Flora and Fauna Friday we have a flying hot pink insect, the Roseate Skimmer (Orthemis ferruginia).
The Roseate Skimmer is a member of the Skimmer dragonflies, our most common family of Odonates. Like most Skimmers, it’s partial to open areas above and surrounding bodies of water. Roseate Skimmers are most common in disturbed areas surrounding stagnant waterways. They show some preference for brackish systems and are especially numerous near unkempt retention ponds. Males are territorial and aggressive towards other dragonflies. They’re routinely seen incessantly flying the perimeter of their territory, darting back and forth across a stretch of pond, over and over, day in and day out.
Roseate Skimmers are about three inches in length. Both sexes have clear wings with dark stigmata. Females present a thorax striped with warm browns and creamy whites before an abdomen of a burnt orange-gold. Males are the showstoppers, flaunting a deep purple thorax above an abdomen almost glowing magenta. They are truly double-take worthy creature the first time you spot one. A sudden spark of violet catches the eye and, before you know it, you’re craning you neck and throwing your head trying to chase a sight of a pink sprite between the reeds. Although average in almost all other aspects, the Roseate Skimmer maintains a ubiquitous attraction in all us naturalists. It sits within the ranks of an exclusive group of unignorable items in our natural world. Critters that make us stop and appreciate the beauty of nature, no matter who we are.
