Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis
• English name: Copper Demoiselle
• German name: Bronzene Prachtlibelle
• French name: Caloptéryx hémorroïdal
• Dutch name: Koperen beekjuffer
• Swedish name: N/A
• Norwegian name: N/A
• Finnish name: N/A
• Danish name: N/A
• Italian name: Splendente culviola
• Czech name: N/A
• Slovenian name: Temni bleščavec
• Bulgarian name: N/A
Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis
Not present
Present before 1990
Present after 1990
Present before and after 1990
Present after 2015
Map data based on J.-P. Boudot & V. J. Kalkman (eds.),
Atlas of the European Dragonflies and Damselflies
| General | • a large, western-Mediterranean species which occurs in Italy, the south of France, Iberia and on most western-Mediterranean islands | |
| Classification | • suborder: Zygoptera (damselflies); family: Calopterygidae | |
| Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Least Concern | |
| Scientific name | • Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis (Vander Linden, 1825) | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| Habitat | • fairly wide, slow-flowing and sunny streams and rivers | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 45-48 mm; hindwing: 23-37 mm | |
| Notes | • its flight is fluttery and butterfly-like | |
| • males engage in a dazzling display flight to attract females into their territories | ||
| • to demonstrate the suitability of an ovipositing site males sit down on the water and allow the current to carry them by that site while 'flashing' the coloured underside of their abdomen tips at the females | ||
| • both males and females hold territories at the water | ||
| Both sexes | Abdomen | ➤ the abdomen is coppery brown or dark green |
| Wings | • the wings are fairly pointed and narrow | |
| Male | Thorax | • the thorax is coppery brown or dark green |
| Abdomen | • the abdomen is coppery brown or dark green | |
| ➤ in mature males the underside of the last three abdominal segments is rosy-red; in immature males it is white | ||
| Wings | • the wings lack a (pseudo-)pterostigma | |
| • the wings are clear at the base but from well before the node they're completely dark all the way through to the tip | ||
| Female | Thorax | • the thorax is coppery brown-green and has thin antehumeral stripes |
| Abdomen | • the top of the abdomen is coppery brown-green | |
| Wings | ➤ the wings are translucent brown, but in mature females a dark band runs through the hindwing tips | |
| • the wings bear a white pseudopterostigma | ||
| Photographs | • nearly all of our photos below were made in Tuscany and the south of Italy |
LineDrawing: the female's head and thorax in lateral view.
