EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Carmine Skimmer

Carmine Skimmer (Orthemis discolor), Family Libellulidae
Mindo, Ecuador

Explanation:  Getting this close to a dragonfly isn't always easy.  Dragonflies are amazing aerial predators, their vision is incredibly sensitive to movement -- both to detect flying insect prey on the wing, and to avoid potential predators of their own.  

Notice how the eyes wrap around to the top of the head! 

This is a carmine skimmer (dragonflies have truly wonderful, and often fanciful, common names).  

The carmine skimmer is generally a subtropical to tropical species.  

In approximately 1995, this species was split from the roseate skimmer which has eyes darker than the body.  But this carmine's eyes seem to glow with brilliant red as if lit from within.

One study (De Marco and Resende 2004) in Brazil found that carmine skimmers preferred sites with tall vegetation for perches, possibly by which to seek mates, although another dragonfly species seemed to successfully compete for such sites. 

  
 
Carmine skimmer male on a prominent perch ... perhaps in search of a mate.

Another recent study (Hoffmann 2010) suggested that carmine skimmers, along with a couple of other dragonfly species, might be able to respond to climate change in the Andes Mountains of western Peru by latitudinal movement, whereas other dragonfly species that specialize more on high mountain environments might not be able to adapt as well, if at all. 
  

Information:
     De Marco, P., Jr., and D.C. Resende.  2004.  Cues for territory choice in two tropical dragonflies.  Neotropical Entomology 33(4):397-401. 
     Hoffmann, J.  2010.  Do climate changes influence dipsersal and population dynamics of dragonflies in the western Peruvian Andes?  BioRisk 5:47-72.