Thursday 10 June 2010

DRAGONFLY: Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii) at Asprokremnos, Cyprus.

May 8, 2010:
At the Asprokremnos pool, as well as there being many Purple Drop-wings, some Red-veined Darters were also present.



The male photographed here shows the characters of this species: a red venation in the wings, prominent black lines bordering the pterostigmas, the abdomen with black marks on the rear dorsal segments, and the abdomen itself narrowing strongly after the second segment. Not visible from the photograph is the blue colouration of the bottom part of its eyes.

It is a widespread resident of the Mediterranean area including Cyprus and also a strong migrant which reaches Britain in most years. I'm grateful to Allen Holmes and Yiannis Christophides for their comments on this photo.

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