Italian Goldenring
(Cordulegaster trinacriae)

The Italian Goldenring is endemic to Italy; it replaces the Common Goldenring roughly South of Rome and on Sicily. In terms of its abdominal markings, Cordulegaster trinacriae is virtually indistinguishable from C. boltonii. If anything, its golden rings are a bit narrower compared to those in C. boltonii. Also, again like boltonii, it has a yellow (rather than black) occipital triangle. The only distinguishing feature is the shape of the male's appendages, which are more deeply notched. In all Goldenring species, the female lays her eggs by dipping her abdomen repeatedly in wet mud (or moss, etc.) in a pneumatic drill fashion.

For an overview of the Italian Goldenring'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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