Dragonfly ID

[ericrovve]

Crocothemis erythraea, Scarlet Dragonfly is the nearest I can get. It seems to fit in every way, including distribution and habitat, except for the black on the tail and lack of red veins on the wing front. Sympetrum striolatum seems the next best bet, but lacks the orange on inner wings. Anyone guide me in the right direction?

[frostfire]

Originally Posted by ericrovve

Crocothemis erythraea, Scarlet Dragonfly is the nearest I can get. It seems to fit in every way, including distribution and habitat, except for the black on the tail and lack of red veins on the wing front.

I think you are right with a Scarlet Dragonfly, the lack of red veins could just be down to the angle of the picture. The only thing that made me doubt was the black on the underneath of the tail, but that could be part of the black line underneath the abdomen... So I would go for a Scarlet dragonfly, and going on it being a southern species, it fits your area perfectly as you say.
Nice find, love the red it is quite a stunning colour!

[ericrovve]

Thanks Frostfire, but I've been looking at this again, becoming more and more unhappy with size and shape of the abdomen - as well as the other things - and now I've come up with a much better fit: Sympetrum fonscolombii or Tarnetrum fonscolombii as my book calls it, which has a slimmer body, often black spots and is around late in the year.

[H Dogg]

Sympetrum flaveolum

[ericrovve]

Thanks for your rather short comment, H. Dogg. I'm always ready to accept the opinion of an expert, but would like to know what makes you sure of your ID. It could be a question of picture angle but the wing shape looks quite wrong to me

[H Dogg]

Sorry was more of a suggestion, im not to keyed up on species from southern europe, although it does look alot like this species.

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

I think I agree with Dogghound (oops! wrong site) Sympetrum flaveolum
There's a lot of yellow on the hind wing, the abdomen is very straight sided and has the black on the sides - all these are characteristic of that species.

neil

[ericrovve]

Gonna go back and try to get a less blurred pic and put it up again. Habitat - lakeside - seems to favour S. fonscolombii so far, and the odd wing shape of the other and the reddish, rather than yellow of the inner wings.