Hairy Hawker
(Brachytron pratense)

The Hairy Hawker is indeed exceedingly hairy, which is presumably related to its early flight period when those extra hairs help to keep the animal warm. While the species is reasonably common in the North and East of Europe, it's really quite rare in the South, so we were very lucky to find it on Corfu. [Update: since then we've managed to photograph the species more extensively in the Netherlands and Italy.] Brachytron pratense is about the same size as Aeshna affinis and Aeshna mixta but can be readily identified by the single dot on S1, a feature which sets it apart from all other Aeshnids. Also typical is the shape of the male's abdomen which, unusually, is not waisted and therefore cylindrical in shape.

For an overview of the Hairy Hawker'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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