Turkish Red Damsel
(Ceriagrion georgifreyi)

The Turkish Red Damsel (Ceriagrion georgifreyi) looks very similar to its much commener stable mate, the Small Red Damsel (C. tenellum). We haven't done a side-by-side comparison (of course; the two species don't seem to coexist anywhere), but Ceriagrion georgifreyi may be slightly the bigger of the two. Recent research has also confirmed some structural differences (e.g. at the tip of the male's abdomen and just behind the female's pronotum). Other than that, the species is characterised by its colour: eyes, head, thorax, legs and pterostigma are all red. Ceriagrion georgifreyi has a very limited presence in Europe, and is restricted to a few Greek islands (e.g. Corfu), and possibly the Greek mainland.

For an overview of the Turkish Red Damsel'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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