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favoured perch, in the sun. When a female enters a male's territory the male will fly up and grab the female. Mating occurs on the wing and the pair are in tandem for only a brief period, often less than a minute. The pair separate and the female will find a suitable location for ovipositing, usually a stretch of open water with submerged vegetation. The female oviposits in flight, hovering above the water and dipping the tip of her abdomen in. The eggs hatch in 4 or 5 weeks and the larvae take one to two years to develop. The larvae live in the silt and detritus at the bottom of the pond, lying buried in mud with just the head and eyes showing. After emergence the adults move away from water and undergo a period of maturation which lasts 10 to 14 days.
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This insect is around 39–48 mm in length, with both the male and the female having a broad, flattened abdomen which is brown with yellow patches down the sides. In the male, the abdomen develops a blue pruinosity that covers the brown colour. Both fore and hind wings have a dark patch at the
384:
The flight period is from April to
September but are mostly seen in May and June. Their flight is very fast as they dart and dive above the water. They are very territorial and will fight with rival males and any other dragonflies they happen to encounter. They characteristically return to a
360:
346:
is seen near still-water lakes and ponds, feeding on many types of small insects. They occur in both bare and sunny locations, where it is often the first dragonfly to colonise new habitats such as newly created ponds, and well vegetated ponds.
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is found in central and southern Europe, central Asia and the Middle East. Its range extends northwards to
England, southern Sweden and southern Finland and it occurs on some Mediterranean islands including
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are often seen away from water as the adults are very mobile and undergo a period of maturation away from water after emergence. The adults are also migratory.
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340:. Historically its range did not extend into Scotland, but there are now some limited populations there. It is not found in Ireland or North Africa.
887:
692:
d'Aguilar, J., Dommanget, J. L., and
Prechac, R. (1986) A field guide to the Dragonflies of Britain, Europe and North Africa. Collins. pp336.
636:
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1026:
848:
41:
707:
697:
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Dijkstra, K.-D. B & Lewington, R. (2006) Field Guide to the
Dragonflies of Britain and Europe. British Wildlife Publishing.
214:
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248:. It is very distinctive with a very broad flattened abdomen, four wing patches and, in the male, the abdomen becomes
866:
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89:
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467:(Artiss et al., 2001). This change is not yet generally accepted and books and field guides list this species as
261:
base. Both the male and female have broad antehumeral stripes. The average wingspan is approximately 70 mm.
1016:
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but there is some evidence, based on RNA and DNA analysis, that this species should be placed within the genus
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1006:
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918:
629:(Odonata: Libellulidae) based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and 16S rRNA sequence data"
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is very distinctive and should not be confused with any other dragonflies in the region.
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Askew, R. R. (2004) The
Dragonflies of Europe. (revised ed.) Harley Books.
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685:. (2009) Atlas of the Odonata of the Mediterranean and North Africa.
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617:"Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the dragonfly genera
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611:Thomas Artiss; Ted R. Schultz; Dan A. Polhemus;
515:, London: Usborne Publishing Limited, page 157
308:Old female; much darker than the young female
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455:This species is usually placed in the genus
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62:
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558:World Catalogue of Odonata II: Anisoptera
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372:Hunting and returning to a favoured perch
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637:Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
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880:b363ec95-6a25-4ede-aef0-8c57128357a5
561:. Walter de Gruyter. p. 392.
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271:Variation in juveniles and adults
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380:young adult female ovipositing
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236:, is one of the most common
1022:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
493:List of British dragonflies
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1027:Insects described in 1758
604:British Dragonfly Society
587:British Dragonfly Society
555:Henrik Steinmann (2013).
531:The Dragonflies of Europe
511:Hart. M., et al, (1978),
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85:Scientific classification
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316:Distribution and habitat
513:The Naturetrail Omnibus
650:10.1006/mpev.2000.0867
534:. BRILL. p. 160.
391:Emergence of the imago
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1012:Dragonflies of Europe
600:"Broad-bodied Chaser"
583:"Broad-bodied Chaser"
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875:Fauna Europaea (new)
730:at Wikimedia Commons
689:Supplement 9 :1–256.
35:Broad-bodied chaser
27:Species of dragonfly
528:R.R. Askew (2021).
443:Newly emerged adult
234:broad-bodied darter
230:broad-bodied chaser
18:Broad-bodied chaser
778:Libellula depressa
748:Libellula depressa
727:Libellula depressa
382:
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225:Libellula depressa
204:Libellula depressa
994:
993:
979:Open Tree of Life
740:Taxon identifiers
724:Media related to
568:978-3-11-082444-5
541:978-90-04-47438-3
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16:(Redirected from
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186:L. depressa
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296:maturing male
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1007:Libellulidae
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662:the original
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488:Libellulidae
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244:and central
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185:
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172:
162:Libellulidae
148:Infraorder:
29:
901:iNaturalist
772:Wikispecies
613:Chris Simon
451:Systematics
349:L. depressa
344:L. depressa
321:L. depressa
263:L. depressa
238:dragonflies
78:Oxfordshire
56:Oxfordshire
1001:Categories
499:References
152:Anisoptera
122:Arthropoda
52:Wolvercote
687:Libellula
627:Plathemis
619:Libellula
483:Libellula
470:Libellula
458:Libellula
355:Behaviour
180:Species:
173:Libellula
108:Kingdom:
102:Eukaryota
919:11235615
786:BioLib:
757:Wikidata
658:11277629
615:(2001).
477:See also
330:Sardinia
250:pruinose
211:Linnaeus
158:Family:
118:Phylum:
112:Animalia
98:Domain:
893:1427883
828:2866098
763:Q302485
338:Menorca
326:Corsica
168:Genus:
142:Odonata
138:Order:
132:Insecta
128:Class:
54:Lakes,
984:825695
958:123850
932:165531
906:563098
867:214384
854:241324
841:LIBLDE
802:259445
706:
696:
675:
656:
625:, and
623:Ladona
565:
538:
464:Ladona
336:, and
334:Sicily
252:blue.
242:Europe
228:, the
74:Otmoor
71:female
914:IRMNG
849:EUNIS
815:6PWQF
683:et al
665:(PDF)
632:(PDF)
404:Nymph
953:NCBI
927:IUCN
888:GBIF
836:EPPO
797:BOLD
789:1652
704:ISBN
694:ISBN
673:ISBN
654:PMID
563:ISBN
536:ISBN
246:Asia
215:1758
49:male
971:627
940:NBN
823:EoL
810:CoL
646:doi
240:in
232:or
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544:.
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
