Downy Emerald
(Cordulia aenea)

The Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea) is the only species of its genus in Europe. It's a relatively common species in Central and Northern Europe species, but very rare in the British Isles, Northern Sweden and Norway, and the Mediterranean basin. Its downiness presumably helps explain its early flight (i.e. early in the year as well as early in the day). The territorial males inspect the water's edge looking for ovipositing females, alternating swift flight with brief hovering. Those females (at least to the human observer) tend to betray their presence by the rustling of their wings in the dense vegetation while they lay their eggs. Cordulia aenea's distinguishing features include the bronze (rather than green-metallic) colour of the abdomen, the dark yellow patches at the wing bases, the male's clubbed abdomen (broadest at S7-8) and the absence of the long vulvar scale typical of the female Brilliant (or Balkan) Emerald.

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