Tramea
genus of insects
Tramea is a genus of dragonflies in the family Libellulidae, the skimmers and perchers. Members of the genus occur throughout tropical and subtropical regions worldwide.
Tramea dragonflies typically have dark or coloured patches at the bases of their hindwings, creating the appearance of saddlebags when in flight. This feature gives rise to the common names saddlebags and saddlebag gliders.
Taxonomic history
In 1849, Hagen introduced the name Trapezostigma for dragonflies characterised by their distinctive wing markings. In 1861, Hagen established Tramea as a genus, shortening the earlier name Trapezostigma and incorporating an allusion to the Latin trameare ("to pass through"), referring to the migratory behaviour of species in the genus.
Description
Species of Tramea are medium-sized to large dragonflies with conspicuous dark patches at the bases of the hindwings. The hindwings have a distinctive arrangement of veins and cells near the wing base.
Species of Tramea are strong fliers and many are highly migratory or nomadic, occurring throughout tropical and warm temperate regions worldwide.
Species
The genus Tramea includes the following species, some of which have subspecies:
Tramea abdominalis (Rambur, 1842) – Vermilion Saddlebags
Tramea aquila Lieftinck, 1942
Tramea basilaris (Palisot de Beauvois, 1805) – Keyhole Glider, Wheeling Glider, Red Marsh Trotter
Tramea binotata (Rambur, 1842) – Sooty Saddlebags
Tramea carolina (Linnaeus, 1763) – Carolina Saddlebags
Tramea cophysa Hagen, 1867
Tramea darwini Kirby, 1889 – Striped Saddlebags
Tramea eurybia Selys, 1878
Tramea insularis Hagen, 1861 – Antillean Saddlebags
Tramea lacerata Hagen, 1861 – Black Saddlebags
Tramea liberata Lieftinck, 1949
Tramea limbata (Desjardins, 1832) – Ferrugineus Glider, Voyaging Glider, Black Marsh Trotter
Tramea loewii Kaup in Brauer, 1866 – Common Glider
Tramea minuta De Marmels & Rácenis, 1982
Tramea onusta Hagen, 1861 – Red Saddlebags, Red-mantled Saddlebags
Tramea phaeoneura Lieftinck, 1953
Tramea rosenbergi Brauer, 1866
Tramea rustica De Marmels & Rácenis, 1982
Tramea stenoloba (Watson, 1962) - Narrow-lobed glider
Tramea transmarina Brauer, 1867 – Red Glider
Tramea virginia (Rambur, 1842)
Etymology
The genus name Tramea is derived from the Latin trameare ("to pass through" or "travel across"), referring to the migratory or vagrant behaviour of species in the genus.
The public source identifies “Tramea” as genus of insects. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tramea, genus and insects.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q142629. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1849, 1861, 1842 and 1942.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tramea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.