Dragonflies and Damselflies

Spring of 2023 was cold and wet in the Netherlands so dragonfly season started late. With warm and sunny weather finally arriving, species started popping out of the water left and right. A few trips in the area yielded some nice new additions to the photo galleries of some existing species pages. Among these are:

• Crescent Bluet (Coenagrion lunulatum)
• Variable Bluet (Coenagrion pulchellum)
• Common Bluet (Enallagma cyathigerum)
• Green-eyed Hawker (Aeshna isoceles)
• Common Clubtail (Gomphus vulgatissimus)
• Brilliant Emerald (Somatochlora metallica)
• Ruby Whiteface (Leucorrhinia rubicunda)
• Small Whiteface (Leucorrhinia dubia)
• Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa)
• Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata)
• Blue Chaser (Libellula fulva)

2022 truly is the year of Corduliidae for this website. After Epitheca bimaculata (Eurasian Baskettail) being added new and Somatochlora metallica (Brilliant Emerald) getting a nice update back in May, now Somatochlora borisi (Bulgarian Emerald) and S. meridionalis (Balkan Emerald) are added as new species to the growing collection. Both were photographed during a trip to beautiful northern Greece in July (both species only in flight and S. borisi only from quite a distance away… I’ll have to go back for more photo shoots some time). The same trip provided opportunities to make more and better photos of many species like Cordulegaster picta (Turkish Goldenring), Onychogomphus forcipatus (Small Pincertail), Lindenia tetraphylla (Bladetail), Orthetrum coerulescens anceps (Keeled Skimmer), Chalcolestes parvidens (Eastern Willow Spreadwing), Lestes macrostigma (Dark Spreadwing) and Epallage fatime (Odalisque).

In 2015 I made an unsuccessful first attempt to see the extremely rare Siberian Bluets (Coenagrion hylas) in Austria but then I was too late in the season. On a second attempt in June 2022 I ended up in the middle of their flight season: there were dozens of specimens flying, mostly males who were feverishly looking for females and barely perched. Only a few European populations are known to exist, all located in a small area in the northern Austrian Alps. The European populations are considered to be subspecies Coenagrion hylas freyi. Their extensive black markings on abdomen and thorax and their odd diurnal activity pattern make this glacial relict a unique addition to our dragonfly fauna.

A long-desired trip to Belgium and adjacent northern France was on my agenda for the past two years but it was postponed both times due to Covid restrictions. This year however I made it! Main goal was the Eurasian Baskettail (Epitheca bimaculata), a rare Corduliid that inhabits lakes with lots of submerged vegetation and fish present. About twenty years ago I last visited the species on the same location but the slides I took back then didn’t age well so the species wasn’t present on my website so far. Well, this is finally fixed now!
As a bonus I was able to photograph another Corduliid, Brilliant Emerald (Somatochlora metallica), during emergence. This species isn’t exactly rare in my area but notoriously hard to photograph as an imago so I was hyped finding this species in the process of emerging. 

For most dragonfly lovers in our region, dragonfly season starts around April. That you can see imago’s all year round, even in winter, will be known by now: both Winter Damselflies (Sympecma sp.) do not hibernate as nymphs or eggs, but survive the cold months as imagos. Read all about it in this article: Frozen Damselflies, The exceptional life cycle of Winter Damselflies (Sympecma sp.)

Although true dragonflies (anisoptera) and damselflies (zygoptera) share many characteristics and are often confused, they aren’t exactly the same thing. This article is dedicated to the differences and should be helpful for those who want to know how to tell either imagos or nymphs of the two suborders apart: Dragonfly or damselfly: the differences explained. An illustrated guide to morphological features of both suborders