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Sticker of Roseate skimmer
Bug card No. 1171 of 1,500

Roseate skimmer

Orthemis ferruginea
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsDragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The roseate skimmer is a dragonfly in party colours. The boys have a bright pink and red tail, and the girls are orange-brown. It zooms over ponds and ditches all over warm parts of America.

Lives in
From the United States to Brazil, and also in Hawaii
Length
4.6 to 5.5 cm (1.8 to 2.2 in)
Wingspan
3.5 to 4.4 cm (1.4 to 1.7 in)
Top speed
about 38 km/h (24 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not sting, and it helps by eating lots of small insects.
What does it eat?
Like all dragonflies, it catches small flying insects in the air. Its young live in the water and hunt there.
For real!Photo of Roseate skimmer
Picture by Vitaly_Charny ( talk ) ( Uploads ). CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Roseate skimmer about 5.5 cm long (2.2 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)

How wide are its wings?

Roseate skimmer wings about 4.4 cm tip to tip (1.7 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 9 grains of rice in a rowas long as 1.5 toy building bricks in a rowwings as wide as 7 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 9.9 secondsmoves 190 times its own body length every second

How big is Roseate skimmer compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The boys guard their own patch of water and chase away other boys that fly too close.

2

It is happy at all kinds of water, even ditches and water tanks made by people.

3

Its wings are clear, with a small brown mark near the front edge of each wing.

4

People brought it to Hawaii by accident, and now it lives there too.

you asked

Most asked questions about Roseate skimmer

?Is the roseate skimmer dangerous?

No. Dragonflies do not sting, and this one is harmless to people.

?Why is the roseate skimmer pink?

Only the boys are pink and red. The girls are orange-brown.

?Where does the roseate skimmer live?

Near open water in the Americas, from the United States to Brazil, and in Hawaii.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Orthemis ferruginea
Named by
Fabricius, 1775
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Libellulidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
Lives on
North America, South America, Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Roseate skimmer (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Vitaly_Charny ( talk ) ( Uploads ). CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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