''Libellula'' is a genus of dragonflies, commonly called skimmers, in the family

Libellulidae The skimmers or perchers and their relatives form the Libellulidae, the largest dragonfly family in the world. It is sometimes considered to contain the Corduliidae as the subfamily Corduliinae and the Macromiidae as the subfamily Macromiinae. Ev ...

, distributed throughout the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Most species are found in the United States, where they are the best-known large dragonflies, often seen flying over freshwater ponds in summer. Many have showy wing patterns.

Overview

The taxa ''Ladona'' (corporals) and ''Plathemis'' (whitetails) have been considered as synonyms of ''Libellula'',

subgenera In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

, or separate

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

by different authorities. Recent phylogenetic analysis has supported their status as either subgenera or full genera.

Species

List of species.''Libellula''
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Extant species

''Ladona''

''Plathemis''

Fossils

*'' Libellula brodieri''† The Paleobiology Database
/ref> *'' Libellula calypso''† *'' Libellula doris'' † *'' Libellula eusebioi''† *'' Libellula kieseli''† *'' Libellula martini''† *'' Libellula melobasis''† *'' Libellula pannewitziana''† *'' Libellula perse''† *'' Libellula sieboldiana''† *'' Libellula thetis''† *'' Libellula thoe''† *'' Libellula ukrainensis''†

References

External links

* * Libellulidae Anisoptera genera Odonata of Asia Odonata of Europe Odonata of North America Odonata of South America Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Taxa described in 1758 Animal migration {{libellulidae-stub