Common Winter Damsel (Sympecma fusca)
• English name: Common Winter Damsel
• German name: Gemeine Winterlibelle
• French name: Leste brun
• Dutch name: Bruine winterjuffer
• Swedish name: Vinterflickslända
• Norwegian name: N/A
• Finnish name: Lännenkirsikorento
• Danish name: Vintervandnymfe
• Italian name: Invernina comune
• Czech name: šídlatka hnědá
• Slovenian name: Prisojni zimnik
• Bulgarian name: Зимно кротиче
Common Winter Damsel
(Sympecma fusca)
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 drab brown and beige species, common throughout Europe except the British Isles and Scandinavia | |
| Classification | • suborder: Zygoptera (damselflies); family: Lestidae | |
| Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Least Concern | |
| Scientific name | • Sympecma fusca (Vander Linden, 1820) | |
| Name genus | • Sympecma: misread from Charpentier's proposed name Sympycna from Grk. σύμπυκνος = pressed together ⇒ for the habit of folding the wings together when at rest (unlike Lestes species) | |
| Name species | • fusca: from Lat. fuscus, -a, -um = dark brown, tawny | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| Habitat | • any still water with a rich vegetation and floating dead reeds, grasses, etc. | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 34-39 mm; hindwing: 18-23 mm | |
| Notes | • folds its wing together along one side of the abdomen when at rest | |
| • very similar to S. paedisca | ||
| • the two Sympecma species are the only European species that overwinter as adults | ||
| • tends to whip its abdomen up and down a few times when alighting | ||
| Both sexes | Head | • in mature animals the top of the eye bears a bright blue spot |
| Thorax | • the upper part of the thorax is (coppery) brown; the lower part is beige | |
| • in young animals the upper part of the thorax is metallic green | ||
| ➤ there is no bulge in the dark dorsal stripe (cf. S. paedisca) | ||
| Abdomen | • the upper part of the abdomen is coppery brown; the lower part is beige | |
| • in young animals the upper part of the abdomen is metallic green | ||
| Wings | • the (dark) brown pterostigma is positioned closer to the tip in the forewing than in the hindwing; when the wings are folded together, the pterostigmas in the forewings are aligned behind those in the hindwings | |
| Photographs | • nearly all of our photos below were made in Tuscany |
