Banded Darter (Sympetrum pedemontanum)
• English name: Banded Darter
• German name: Gebänderte Heidelibelle
• French name: Sympétrum du Piémont
• Dutch name: Bandheidelibel
• Swedish name: Bandad ängstrollslända
• Norwegian name: N/A
• Finnish name: Vyösyyskorento
• Danish name: Båndet hedelibel
• Italian name: Cardinale alifasciate
• Czech name: vážka podhorní
• Slovenian name: Pasasti kamenjak
• Bulgarian name: Поясно червениче
Banded Darter
(Sympetrum pedemontanum)
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 small species of central and eastern Europe | |
| Classification | • suborder: Anisoptera (dragonflies); family: Libellulidae | |
| Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Least Concern | |
| Scientific name | • Sympetrum pedemontanum (Müller in Allioni, 1766) | |
| Name genus | • Sympetrum: from Grk. συμπιέζω = to squeeze together +; ἦτρον = abdomen ⇒ Newman described Sympetrum species as having the 'abdomen laterally compressed' (as distinct from Orthetrum species, which have the 'abdomen laterally parallel') | |
| Name species | • pedemontanum: after the Italian region of Piemonte (from Lat. ad pedes montium, adj. pedemontanus), where the species was first discovered | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| Habitat | • slow-flowing streams and canals, but also lakes and ponds | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 28-35 mm; hindwing: 18-24 mm | |
| Notes | • libellulids are 'sitters': males spend a lot of time perched at the water's edge, waiting for females | |
| • all European Sympetrum species oviposit in tandem | ||
| Both sexes | Wings | ➤ each wing bears a dark band |
| Legs | • the legs are all black | |
| Male | Thorax | • the thorax is reddish brown |
| Abdomen | • the abdomen is red and slightly club-shaped, with some black markings on S8 and S9 | |
| Wings | • the pterostigma is red | |
| Female | Thorax | • the thorax is yellow/brown |
| Abdomen | • the top of the abdomen is yellow with black markings on S8 and S9 and a thin black mid-dorsal line; the underside of the abdomen is black | |
| Wings | • the pterostigma is creamy white | |
| Photographs | • our photos below were made in central and northern Italy, Bavaria, Belgium and the Netherlands |
