Bladetail
(Lindenia tetraphylla)

The Bladetail is the largest of the European gomphids (length: 7 cm; wingspan: 8 cm) with dark bands against a sandy-yellow background. Its most characteristic feature is the four lobes () underneath abdominal segments 7-9 (the scientific name 'tetraphylla' means 'four leaves'). In addition the female has two orange-coloured bands on the side of abdominal segment 2 () and on her lobes.

We have seen Lindenia tetraphylla flying from June through August (our last sighting in 2005 was on 26 August). We'll have to wait till next season to see how early in the year they emerge. [UPDATE for 2006: The first Bladetail emergence we saw in 2006 was on 12 June, so their flight season here in Tuscany seems to run from early-to-mid June till the end of August.]

In Europe the Bladetail is very rarely seen outside of Turkey and the Balkans. In fact when we showed our first photos of the species to our scientific adviser (a long-serving professor of entomology), he nearly had a fit; it was the first time he had seen pictures of Lindenia tetraphylla taken in Italy and his only personal sighting of the species had been in Croatia. Since then we've been able to record its presence in at least four localities in Tuscany. Lindenia tetraphylla is on the list of nine protected European odonata species under the 1979 Bern Convention and the EU Habitats Directive 92/43.

From our own observations, we'd describe the Bladetail as a very elegant and slenderly built species. It flies low and settles down often. Males like to perch on reed stalks near the water's edge to guard their territory.

At our favourite lake, a disused gravel pit, we have seen up to twenty specimens at any one time, and yet we haven't noticed any violent physical conflicts between males or indeed between Lindenia and other, smaller species. The Bladetail seems to be a peace-loving species.

When copulating (), an activity which lasts a good 10 minutes, the male typically balances himself on the tip of a reed stalk or branch and has to curl his long abdomen into a U-shape to be able to grasp the female, while she presses her frons against her lobes - a truly magnificent scene of great tenderness. The female lays her eggs unaccompanied by dipping her abdomen repeatedly in the water (), at which time she is, unfortunately, quite vulnerable to predation by fish.