Blue Emperor
(Anax imperator)

Of the four European Emperor species, the Blue Emperor is easily the commonest and most widespread; only in Scandinavia is it still rare. Anax imperator is a large dragonfly and a formidable hunter, which regularly preys on smaller dragonflies. Its most distinguishing features include the male's striking light-blue abdomen (pale brownish green in the female) and the apple-green thorax.

For an overview of the Blue Emperor's distribution in Europe, hover your mouse pointer over the map symbol .
With the authors' permission we have based this map on data published in Kalkman et al. (2010).
Legend: Red = Occurs, White = Doesn't occur; Purple = Extinct; Yellow = Vagrant.

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