Leucorrhinia caudalis (Lilypad Whiteface) inhabits mainly standing waters with floating vegetation. The vernacular name refers to the male’s habit of occupying territories centered around floating water lily (Nymphaeaceae) leaves.
After local extinction in The Netherlands in the 1960s, Lilypad Whiteface re-established a population in 2010. This population, in Nationaal Park Weerribben-Wieden, is booming now, with thousands of individuals emerging every year, and new small populations and nomadic individuals have been observed all over the country since 2018.
Lilypad Whitefaces can only be confused with the similarly coloured Dark Whiteface (Leucorrhinia albifrons), of which the abdomen is thin and straight rather than club-shaped. Males Lilypad Whitefaces have pterostigmas that look white when observed from above as opposed to black in Dark Whiteface.
A minority of the females have distinct dark spots in the wings near the pterostigmas.
in and around Europe
