Hairy Hawker
(Brachytron pratense)

Previous species | Next species
 

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.

Hover your mouse pointer over a thumbnail below to display a larger version of it. Or click on a thumbnail to display the photograph (at 1050 x 700 pixels) in a new window. And then, if you'd like to get even closer, you can drag the ZoomBox from the top-left corner of that window across the photograph. Note that you may have to refresh the window manually (by pressing F5 on your keyboard) for the ZoomBox to display correctly.


Dr818 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr819 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr820 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr821 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr822 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus
Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr818. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr819. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr820. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense). PhotoID: Dr821. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr822.
Dr823 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1024 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1025 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1026 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1027 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus
Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr823. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr1024. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr1025. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense). PhotoID: Dr1026. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr1027.
Dr1028 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1029 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1030 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1031 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1032 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus
Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr1028. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr1029. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr1030. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - male. PhotoID: Dr1031. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense). PhotoID: Dr1032.
Dr1033 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1034 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1035 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1036 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus Dr1041 uncropped photo no flash used manual focus
Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense). PhotoID: Dr1033. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense). PhotoID: Dr1034. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense). PhotoID: Dr1035. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense). PhotoID: Dr1036. Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense) - female. PhotoID: Dr1041.