Migrant Spreadwing
(Lestes barbarus)

The Migrant Spreadwing is a fairly large, pale yellow-green-brown damselfly. Like all members of the genus Lestes, it holds its wings spread out when at rest, typically at an angle of about 45 degrees. The Migrant Spreadwing occurs throughout Central and Southern Europe but is largely absent from the British Isles and Scandinavia. Its preferred habitat consists of shallow ponds and lakes which dry out in the course of the summer. One such site, the Lago della Rotonda near the town of Lauria in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata holds a hundreds- if not thousands-strong population. Lestes barbarus' most distinctive features include the almost complete absence of the powdery, light-blue pruinescence which is so typical of all other European Spreadwing species (there's usually just a little bit at the wing base, on top of S10, and underneath S9 and S10), and its two-coloured pterostigma (dark brown on the inside; creamy white on the outside).

For an overview of the Migrant Spreadwing'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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