Calopteryx xanthostoma
• English name: Western Demoiselle
• German name: Westliche Prachtlibelle
• French name: Caloptéryx occitan
• Dutch name: Iberische beekjuffer
• Swedish name: N/A
• Norwegian name: N/A
• Finnish name: N/A
• Danish name: N/A
• Italian name: Splendente ligure
• Czech name: N/A
• Slovenian name: N/A
• Bulgarian name: N/A
Calopteryx xanthostoma
Map data based on J.-P. Boudot & V. J. Kalkman (eds.),
Atlas of the European Dragonflies and Damselflies
| General | • a large species, very similar to C. splendens, which occurs only in Iberia, the South of France and a thin coastal strip of North-West Italy | |
| Classification | • suborder: Zygoptera (damselflies); family: Calopterygidae | |
| Scientific name | • Calopteryx xanthostoma (Charpentier, 1825) | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| 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 | ||
| Habitat | • fairly wide, slow-flowing and sunny streams and rivers | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 45-50 mm; hindwing: 27-29 mm | |
| Both sexes | Wings | • the wings are fairly pointed and narrow |
| Male | Thorax | • the thorax is metallic dark blue |
| Abdomen | • the abdomen is metallic dark blue | |
| • the underside of the last three abdominal segments is yellowish white | ||
| Wings | • the wings lack a (pseudo-)pterostigma | |
| ➤ the wings are clear from the base to the node and dark from the node all the way through to the tip; at emergence the wings are completely translucent | ||
| Female | Thorax | • the thorax is metallic dark green |
| Abdomen | ➤ the top of the abdomen is metallic dark green but the last three segments are dull brown | |
| Wings | • the wings are translucent green and bear a white pseudopterostigma close to the wing tip | |
| Photographs | • nearly all of our photos below were made in Extremadura in 2017 |
