Yellow-sided Skimmer Libellula flavida

A tricky skimmer. Smaller and lighter blue than a Great Blue. Much paler than Slaty, though about the same size. Note the dark stigma and the pale yellow-brown fore edges of the wings on the male. The female looks remarkably like a Golden-winged female except with dark stigma and often larger distal dark wingtip markings. The yellow quadrangle on the thorax side is much more angularly defined. Quite a bit less common in AR than the other blue skimmers.

And the elusive female. At least for me. This one showed up on my property near the grassy area adjacent to my swamp. Compare with females of the Golden-winged and the Great Blue. Stigma less intense than the Golden-winged. And the wingtips more extensive than most Great Blues with that blend into the golden veins up front.

And side shot shows the strongly outlined yellow diamond on the side. Bordered posteriorly by a thin but continous brown line across the whole thorax. Smaller and better fliers than Great Blue Skimmer females. And fond of more open areas.