Seaside Dragonlet

The seaside dragonlet is a relatively small, slender-bodied skimmer. Males reach a uniform black at maturity, which is then overlaid with waxy pruinosity. Their eyes are dark red on top with a gradient to light green below. Females have a similar dark red to light green-gray eye color gradient, but their body coloration is much more variable than the males'. The thorax usually has a lemon yellow to orange background with many black stripes, but some have an entirely black thorax. The abdomen is often black (sometimes gold or orange) on the first three segments (S1-S3) and on the final segments (S8-S10). The middle segments (S4-S7) are then often orange above and black below, forming a chainlike pattern of orange. Some common female color patterns include: mostly bright orange on thorax and abdomen; black thorax with bright orange abdomen (aging to a masculine-appearing black abdomen); orange thorax with black stripes and black abdomen.

While not as territorial as other dragonlet species, males may display some aggression to each other at close range. Large numbers of both sexes gather in good breeding habitat. This species is often found perching on emergent vegetation or trees, spending 99% of their time perched on vegetation in a study of their behavior in a Maine salt marsh. It feeds on smaller insects including lacewings and damselflies. Pairs of seaside dragonlets often fly in tandem and are unique within the genus Erythrodiplax for also performing oviposition in tandem, usually into floating algal mats.