Banded Groundling
(Brachythemis leucosticta)

The Banded Groundling is a small dragonfly of African origin which only occurs in a few scattered areas in Iberia, on Sicily, and on Sardinia (which is where we first photographed it). In Africa, Brachythemis leucosticta is known for accompanying grazing cattle; as the cattle move through the tall grasses and thereby flush out all sorts of small insects, their dragonfly companions find their prey presented on a silver platter. This is how we first saw the species; a handful of males and females, flying low to the ground and looking very much like miniature tumbleweeds, followed us around as we walked along a large artificial lake. The species' most distinguishing features include the mature male's all-black body and black wing bands, and the creamy-white pterostigma which gives the species its scientific name. In fact, though, that pterostigma is bi-coloured; its outer edge is dark brown.

For an overview of the Banded Groundling'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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