Aeshna isoceles (Green-eyed Hawker) is a small hawker that can be found on the wing as early as May, much earlier than most other hawkers. Like Brown Hawker (A. grandis) it has a brown body but the wings are clear and colourless, the eyes are green instead of blue and there’s a diagnostic yellow triangular mark on the second abdominal segment.
Green-eyed Hawkers can be found in most European countries but are most common in Central Europe and around the Mediterranean.
Variation: Around Greece and Turkey, Green-eyed Hawkers tend to have prominent antehumeral stripes. Populations with this characteristic have been described as subspecies antehumeralis but the taxonomic status of this subspecies is subject to debate. An example of such an individual from Turkey is included in the photo gallery below.
There’s debate about taxonomy and spelling of the scientific species name of Green-eyed Hawkers as well: other variations include Anaciaeschna isosceles, Aeshna isosceles and more recently Isoaeschna isoceles.
in and around Europe
