title: Scarlet skimmer
text: # Scarlet skimmer
  
  The scarlet skimmer or ruddy marsh skimmer, Crocothemis servilia, is a species of dragonfly of the family Libellulidae, native to east and southeast Asia and introduced to Jamaica, Florida, and Hawaii.
  
  ## Subspecies
  
  There are two known subspecies; Crocothemis servilia servilia (Drury, 1773) and Crocothemis servilia mariannae Kiauta, 1983. C. s. mariannae lacks the mid-dorsal black stripe.
  
  ## Description and habitat
  
  It is a medium sized blood-red dragonfly with a thin black line along the mid-dorsal abdomen. Its eyes are blood-red above, purple laterally. Thorax is bright ferruginous, often blood-red on dorsum. Abdomen is blood-red, with a narrow black mid-dorsal carina. Anal appendages are blood-red. Female is similar to the male; but with olivaceous-brown thorax and abdomen. The black mid-dorsal carina is rather broad.
  
  It breeds in ponds, ditches, marshes, open swamps and rice fields.
  
  * male
  * female
  * subadult male in flight
  * A Scarlet Skimmer in Uttarakhand, India
  