Diet

• Orthemis levis is a predatory dragonfly. Adults capture small flying insects in flight, while the aquatic larvae prey on small aquatic invertebrates and insect larvae.

Range

• The Slender Skimmer is distributed from Mexico south through Central America to northern South America, including Colombia and Venezuela. It is a native species in Mexico.

• It occurs in the broader Zihuatanejo region, although I would treat a specific Zihuatanejo locality as unconfirmed unless supported by a local specimen or observation.

Habitat

• Orthemis levis is associated particularly with streams and rivers in forested areas. It can also occur around forest pools and ponds and in marshes with dense vegetation.

• Around Zihuatanejo, suitable habitat would include shaded streams, forest pools, seasonal ponds and densely vegetated wetland margins within tropical dry forest.

Description

• The Slender Skimmer is a relatively slender Orthemis, with males generally having a dark reddish-brown to reddish body and contrasting yellowish markings when fresh. The thorax can become considerably darker or more uniformly reddish with age.

• A useful feature distinguishing males from the similar Orthemis cultriformis is the absence of pale basal stripes on the abdomen; the basal abdominal sections of O. levis are reddish.