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Plathemis lydia
Large dragonfly; female has brwon body & different pattern of wing spots than males who has chunky white body (about 5 cm long); brownish-black bands on its otherwise translucent wings, give it a checkered look. ,
Urban school pond
Sunning on rock beside pond; can be mistaken as female Libellula pulchella, the twelve-spotted skimmer
Spotted on Sep 9, 2014
Submitted on Aug 4, 2015
2 Comments
They are so close and both are common here, but on second look I think you are right so have made the change. Thanks
This may be a female Common Whitetail, Plathemis lydia. The two have similar markings but there is no white between the black on the Common Whitetail. Your image is a bit too small for me to be 100% sure, but the abdomen looks a bit wider to me and I don't see any white on the wings.
Here are a couple of links so you can compare your images.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/603
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3407