Platycnemis pennipes
• English name: Blue Featherleg
• German name: Blaue Federlibelle
• French name: Agrion à larges pattes
• Dutch name: Blauwe breedscheenjuffer
• Swedish name: Flodflickslända
• Norwegian name: Elvevannymfe
• Finnish name: Sulkakoipikorento
• Danish name: Fjerbenet vandnymfe
• Italian name: Zampalarga comune
• Czech name: šidélko brvonohé
• Slovenian name: Sinji presličar
• Bulgarian name: Речно шило
Platycnemis pennipes
Not present
Present before 1990
Present after 1990
Present before and after 1990
Present after 2015
Map data based on J.-P. Boudot & V. J. Kalkman (eds.),
Atlas of the European Dragonflies and Damselflies
| General | • a fairly large species which is very common and widespread throughout Europe except Iberia and large parts of the British Isles and Scandinavia | |
| Classification | • suborder: Zygoptera (damselflies); family: Platycnemididae | |
| Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Least Concern | |
| Scientific name | • Platycnemis pennipes (Pallas, 1771) | |
| Name genus | • Platycnemis: from Grk. πλατύς = wide +; κνημίς = greave, shin-pad | |
| Name species | • pennipes: from Lat. penna = feather +; pes = foot, leg ⇒ for the wide tibiae and bristly legs | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| Habitat | • all types of still and slow-flowing running waters | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 35-37 mm; hindwing: 19-23 mm | |
| Both sexes | Thorax | ➤ the thorax typically bears a double antehumeral stripe |
| Wings | • the pterostigma is uniformly golden brown | |
| Legs | • the shins, especially on the middle and hind legs and especially in males of the subspecies P. p. nitidula, are strikingly white and wide | |
| Male | Head | • the eyes are blue in mature males but brown in immature males |
| Thorax | • the thorax is light blue in mature males (white/beige in immature males) | |
| Abdomen | ➤ the abdomen is light blue in mature males (white/beige in immature males) | |
| • the lower appendages are clearly longer than the upper appendages | ||
| Female | Head | • the eyes are brown |
| Thorax | • the thorax is beige/brown | |
| Abdomen | • the abdomen is beige/brown | |
| Photographs | • the photos we made in Italy show the nominal subspecies P. p. pennipes | |
| • the photos we made in Greece show the subspecies P. p. nitidula |
