| Corduliidae | ||||||||||||||
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 Somatochlora arctica, the Northern Emerald
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
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Cordulephyinae - Corduliinae - Gomphomacromiinae - Idionychinae - Idomacromiinae - Macromiinae - Neophyinae |
The insect family Corduliidae contains the emerald dragonflies or green-eyed skimmers. These dragonflies are usually black or dark brown with areas of metallic green or yellow, and most of them have large, emerald-green eyes. The larvae are black, hairy-looking, and usually semi-aquatic. Members of this family include baskettails, emeralds, river cruisers, sundragons, shadowdragons, boghaunters, and other creatively-named dragonflies. They are not uncommon and are found nearly worldwide, however, some individual species are quite rare. Hine's Emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana), for example, is an endangered species in the United States. Some genera:
Cordulia
Dorocordulia
Epitheca
Helocordulia
Idionyx
Lintneri
Neurocordulia
Somatochlora
Williamsonia
