Banded Demoiselle
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The banded demoiselle (''Calopteryx splendens'') is a species of
damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...
belonging to the family
Calopterygidae The Calopterygidae are a family of damselflies, in the suborder Zygoptera. They are commonly known as the broad-winged damselflies, demoiselles, or jewelwings. These rather large damselflies have wingspans of 50–80 mm (compared to about 44 ...
. It is often found along slow-flowing streams and
river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
s. It is a
Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...
n species occurring from the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
coast eastwards to Lake Baikal and northwestern China. This is a common species throughout much of its range.


Description

This is a large damselfly with a total length of up to and a hindwing length of up to . Male and female are variable in color and pattern. The male has
translucent In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale (one in which the dimensions ...
wings which each have a broad, dark iridescent blue-black spot (or band) across the outer part. On immature individuals the spot is dark brown. The body can be a metallic blue or bluish green or a combination of both colours, depending on the time of year and location. The dark wing patch of the male starts at the nodus (the slight dip midway down the upper edge of the wing) but can reach up to the wing-tip in southern races. In the very similar beautiful demoiselle (''Calopteryx virgo''), the dark patch starts before the nodus. The female has translucent, pale green iridescent wings with a white patch near the tip (a pseudopterostigma), and a metallic green or bronze/green body.


Eggs and larvae

Females can lay up to 10 eggs per minute for 45 minutes. They lay in a wide variety of emergent or floating plants, sometimes even submerging to do so. The eggs hatch after 14 days. The
larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...
e have very long legs and are stick-shaped. They develop over two years, usually. They tolerate muddy water and overwinter buried in mud. When they are ready to moult into an adult, they climb up a suitable reed or plant and shed their skin.


Habitat

This species lives in many types of freshwater habitat, particularly open running water bodies such as streams and smaller rivers.


Behaviour

Males are usually territorial, but large numbers can sometimes be found in lush bankside plants and on floating objects. They court females by opening their wings and performing an aerial dance. They are usually found in canals and quiet rivers with muddy bottoms located in open country.


Range

The banded demoiselle is a
Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...
n species, and is present throughout Eurasia from the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
coast to Lake Baikal and north-western China. It occurs in
Taganay Taganay (russian: Таганай, ba, Тағанай) is a group of mountain ridges in the Southern Urals, on the territory of Chelyabinsk Oblast, with the highest point rising 1178 m. above sea level. Taganay National Park was established in 199 ...
and
Zyuratkul Zyuratkul (; ba, Йөрәккүл) is a freshwater lake in Satkinsky District, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. The name "Zyuratkul" comes from the Bashkir ''"yöräk/kul"'' (йөрәк/күл), meaning "heart/lake". In 1993 the Zyuratkul Natio ...
National Parks of Russia.''Calopteryx splendens'' (Harris, 1782)
– Красная Книга Челябинской области: животные, растения, грибы / Министерство по радиационной и экологической безопасности Челябинской области, Ин-т экологии растений и животных УрО РАН. – Екатеринбург: Изд-во Урал. ун-та, 2005. – 450 с.: ил.
It can be found at
Fruška Gora Fruška gora ( sr-Cyrl, Фрушка гора; hu, Tarcal-hegység) is a mountain in Syrmia, administratively part of Serbia with a part of its western side extending into eastern Croatia. The area under Serbian administration forms the country ...
in
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
. It's found throughout the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, except for the
Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland S ...
.


Gallery

Banded demoiselle damselfly (Calopteryx splendens) male adult bluish green.jpg, blue-green male Banded demoiselle damselfly (Calopteryx splendens) male adult green.jpg, green male Banded demoiselle damselfly (Calopteryx splendens) male adult blue.jpg, blue male Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) male juvenile.jpg, red eyes of juvenile male Banded demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) female.jpg, bronze/green female Banded demoiselle damselfly (Calopteryx splendens) female metallic bronze.jpg, bronze female Banded demoiselle damselfly (Calopteryx splendens) female no pseudostigmata.jpg, female with no pseudostigmata CalopteryxSplendensNymph.JPG, Larva Calopteryx splendens (male).ogv, Male ''Calopteryx splendens'' Calopteryx splendens qtl7.jpg, Mating wheel


Footnotes and references


Further reading

* Hämäläinen, M. (2008) ''Calopteryx splendens'' (Harris, 1780) – a note on the publication date of the description of the Banded Demoiselle ''
Journal of the British Dragonfly Society The ''Journal of the British Dragonfly Society'' is a scientific journal published twice-yearly by the British Dragonfly Society since 1983. It contains material relevant to Odonata recorded from the United Kingdom. The editor-in-chief is P. J. Mil ...
'' 24(1): 19-23 * Richard Gabb
Banded Demoiselle – Calopteryx splendens

European Dragonfly Photographs
{{Taxonbar, from=Q909597 Calopterygidae Odonata of Asia Damselflies of Europe Insects described in 1780 Taxa named by Moses Harris Articles containing video clips