The Dark Skimmer (Orthetrum albistylum) is a slender and elegant skimmer that is usually 45 to 50 mm long, and its wingspan measures about 7 cm. The male of the Dark Skimmer at first glance is very similar to the brown skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum), but its colors look faded in comparison to it. The eyes of the Dark Skimmer are bluish gray, its thorax gray, and the abdomen pale blue with narrow, slightly curved, longitudinal stripes of dirty white along the edge. The last four segments of the male's slender abdomen are black, which makes the white tail appendages stand out even more.
The female is more subdued in color than the female of the related brown skimmer. We will recognize her by lighter, bluish-gray eyes and a sandy brown abdomen, adorned with pronounced black semicircular lines along its edge. Like the male, the female also has white tail appendages, and moreover the female has a white last, tenth, segment of the abdomen.
The Dark Skimmer lives in standing waters, and the species is not sensitive to the quality of the water. In fact, the larvae prefer muddy and silty bottoms of canals, clay pits and ponds.
Adult Dark Skimmers fly from the end of May to the middle of September. The male can often be seen perched on a bare lakeshore, and when not resting, he loves to fly at extremely high speed just above the water surface.
