''Libellula'' is a genus of dragonflies, called chasers (in English) or skimmers (in American), in the family Libellulidae. They are distributed throughout the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

zone of the Northern Hemisphere. 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 ( 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 the ge ...

, or separate

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

by different authorities. Recent

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

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