''Sympetrum meridionale'', the southern darter, is a species of

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

belonging to the Skimmer family

Libellulidae The skimmers or perchers and their relatives form the Libellulidae, the largest dragonfly family in the world. It is sometimes considered to contain the Corduliidae as the subfamily Corduliinae and the Macromiidae as the subfamily Macromiinae. Ev ...

Description

The adults grow up to long. The wingspan reaches . The abdomen of adult males is orange-reddish, without black spots on segments. The sides of the thorax are yellowish-brown. The adult females are quite similar to males, but the background color is more yellow. The wings are hyaline, with yellow or pale brown

pterostigma The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialized cells in the outer insect wing, wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonfly, dragonfli ...

Life cycle and behavior

Their life cycle lasts two or three years. They can be encountered from May through mid October in the immediate vicinity of shallow, well vegetated still water, where the larvae develop.

Distribution

This species is present in most of southern Europe.

References

* *Henrik Steinmann - World Catalogue of Odonata (Volume II Anisoptera) . 477f de Gruyter, 1997,
Fauna Europaea

Biolib
{{Taxonbar, from=Q479057 Libellulidae Insects described in 1841