Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Aug 6, 2026

Indothemis carnatica

Indothemis carnatica, the black marsh skimmer, or light-tipped demon, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Last revised
Aug 6, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
438 w
Citations
14
Source
Indothemis carnatica
Male
Female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Infraorder: Anisoptera
Superfamily: Libelluloidea
Family: Libellulidae
Genus: Indothemis
Species:
I. carnatica
Binomial name
Indothemis carnatica
(Fabricius, 1798)
Synonyms
  • Libellula carnatica Fabricius, 1798
  • Libellula caesia Rambur, 18422

Indothemis carnatica,3 the black marsh skimmer,4 or light-tipped demon,5 is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.16457

Description and habitat

It is a small dark violaceous or blackish-brown dragonfly with yellow markings obscurely showing through. Its thorax is blackish-brown, obscured with pruinescence and appears uniformly dark violaceous in full adults. Young males and females are yellowish. Abdomen is dark violaceous with yellow markings obscurely showing through. Its anal appendages are pale yellow tipped with black.2

Female differs very widely from the male in colour and markings. Its thorax is golden-yellow on dorsum, pale greenish-yellow laterally. There is a diffuse brown antehumeral stripe. Abdomen is golden-yellow on dorsum, fading to greenish-yellow laterally, marked with black and reddish-brown. There is a narrow sub-dorsal stripe extending in a very broken manner from segment 2 to the end of abdomen. There is a mid-dorsal stripe black on carina, brown at its borders extending from segment 2 to 9, broadening on the terminal segments and becoming confluent with the sub-dorsal stripe. Segment 10 is yellow, with base and apical border narrowly black. Anal appendages are pale yellow tipped with black.2

It breeds in weeded ponds and lakes.28

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Dow, R.A. (2019). "Indothemis carnatica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019 e.T163674A123027708. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T163674A123027708.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. C FC Lt. Fraser (1936). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma, Odonata Vol. III. Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 340-341.
  3. Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. "World Odonata List". OdonataCentral. University of Alabama.
  4. "Indothemis carnatica Fabricius, 1798". India Biodiversity Portal. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  5. "Indothemis carnatica Fabricius, 1798". Odonata of India, v. 1.00. Indian Foundation for Butterflies. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  6. Odonata: Catalogue of the Odonata of the World. Tol J. van, 2008-08-01
  7. K.A., Subramanian; K.G., Emiliyamma; R., Babu; C., Radhakrishnan; S.S., Talmale (2018). Atlas of Odonata (Insecta) of the Western Ghats, India. Zoological Survey of India. pp. 330–331. ISBN 978-81-8171-495-4.
  8. C FC Lt. Fraser (1924). A Survey of the Odonate (Dragonfly) Fauna of Western India and Descriptions of Thirty New Species (PDF). p. 436.
External links