Corduliidae

Corduliidae
Corduliidae
Somatochlora arctica, the Northern Emerald
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Epiprocta
Infraorder: Anisoptera
Family: Corduliidae
Subfamilies

Cordulephyinae - Corduliinae - Gomphomacromiinae - Idionychinae - Idomacromiinae - Macromiinae - Neophyinae

The insect family Corduliidae contains the emerald dragonflies or green-eyed skimmers. These dragonflies are usually black or dark brown with areas of metallic green or yellow, and most of them have large, emerald-green eyes. The larvae are black, hairy-looking, and usually semi-aquatic.

Members of this family include baskettails, emeralds, river cruisers, sundragons, shadowdragons, boghaunters, and other creatively-named dragonflies. They are not uncommon and are found nearly worldwide, however, some individual species are quite rare. Hine's Emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana), for example, is an endangered species in the United States.

Some genera:

  • Archaeophya
  • Cordulia – American emeralds
  • Dorocordulia – little emeralds
  • Epitheca – baskettails
  • Helocordulia – sundragons
  • Idionyx
  • Neurocordulia – shadowdragons
  • Somatochlora – striped emeralds
  • Williamsonia – boghaunters

External links