Four-spotted Skimmer / La quadrimaculée

Libellula quadrimaculata

Fundy Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes 2

Libellula quadrimaculata)

Size: 41-45 mm

Fundy First record: July 6th, 2013, MacLaren Pond (Weekly Bio-Blitz program)

Status/Habitat: Common and widespread in New Brunswick. Very adaptable to a variety of lentic (stagnant) waters, but prefers shallow waters that are somewhat acidic, such as boggy-edged marshes and bog pools.

Flight period in New Brunswick: May 20th to September 18th, but likely flies in the first week of May some years. This is one of our very earliest species on the wing each year.

ID Hints: While other species have spots in the wings, the placement of the Four-spotted's spots are unique. This species is quite distinctive and difficult to confuse with other species when well seen. Juveniles can be very brightly coloured and mature adults very dull. When seen from the side, the "tiger stripes" on the thorax are striking.

Nature Notes: Juveniles can be found kilometres from where they emerged. This species is holarctic, meaning it occurs throughout the northern hemisphere, i.e. in North America, Europe and Asia.

Behaviour 3

The male is considered to be highly aggressive and will defend a given territory from incursions from other males of the species. The male is known to form preferences for prominent perches and will often return to the same perches around the margins of pools and ponds whilst it patrols for intruders. Males have a favourable view of the sky during perching. They look toward a section of the sky away from the sun, with less radiation but a higher UV and blue-violet saturation. Thus, the fovea of the eyes, which is sensitive to blue and UV radiation, is optimally suited to the detection of flying insects against the blue sky. Both sexes are prolific fliers and mating takes place in the air, rather than on perches or amongst the vegetation. The female lays her eggs on floating vegetation.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Denis Doucet, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Denis Doucet
  2. (c) Denis Doucet, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
  3. Adapted by Denis Doucet from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-spotted_chaser

More Info

iNaturalist.ca Map

Family Libellulidae