It has a body length of 41 to 49 mm with a wingspan of 68 to 76 mm.
Both sexes have no antehumeral stripes. Their pterostigmata are relatively short and light in colour.
The male is coloured blue all over the body, the face is white. It has blue eyes and reddish pterostigmata.
The female is completely yellowish to brownish and has an abdomen with a thin black midline. Next to the line are pairs of dots on segments S3 to S7. The eyes are blue-grey.
The Southern skimmer hunts from a hide or directly from the ground, where it likes to sit and sunbathe.
It favours stagnant and slow-flowing waters whose banks are bare. These can be freshly dug ditches, but also abandoned clay pits.
Literature:
- K.-D. Dijkstra, Libellen Europas, 2. Auflage, Haupt Verlag Bern 2021,ISBN 3-258-08219-6, S. 266 f
- K. Sternberg / R. Buchwald, Libellen Baden-Württembergs, Bd. 2, Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3514-0, S. 477–492
- H. Wildermuth, A. Martens, Die Libellen Europas, Quelle & Meyer Wiebelsheim 2018, 3-494-01690-9, S. 686 ff
Websites:
- https://www.libellen.tv
- https://www.libellenschutz.ch
- https://www.libellenwissen.de
- https://www.waldschrat-online.de
