Corduliidae

Corduliidae
Somatochlora viridiaenea (male)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Infraorder: Anisoptera
Superfamily: Libelluloidea
Family: Corduliidae
Selys, 1850[1]
Subfamilies

Corduliidae, also knowns as the emeralds, emerald dragonflies, or green-eyed skimmers, is a family of dragonflies. 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 semiaquatic. This family include species called "baskettails", "emeralds", "sundragons", "shadowdragons", and "boghaunters". They are not uncommon and are found nearly worldwide, but some individual species are quite rare. Hine's emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana), for example, is an endangered species in the United States.

Corduliidae are known to occasionally take quantities of their eggs at the tip of their stomach, before then sticking their eggs in mud or water using a sprout-like appendage that extends from their abdomens.[2]

  1. ^ Selys-Longchamps, E. (1850). "Revue des odonates ou libellules d'Europe". Mémoires de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège (in French). 6: 1-408 [66] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  2. ^ Marshall, Stephen A. (2006). Insects: their natural history and diversity; with a photographic guide to insects of eastern North America. A Firefly book (2. printing ed.). Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books. ISBN 978-1-55297-900-6.