Siberian Winter Damsel
(Sympecma paedisca)

The Siberian Winter Damsel looks very similar to its much commoner stable mate the Common Winter Damsel. It too overwinters as an adult, and it too is a medium-sized, drab brown-and-creamy-white damselfly. But in terms of its distribution, Sympecma paedisca is very different from S. fusca; it's common in Poland and further East but is positively rare in Western Europe, with only two outposts in Northern Germany/the Netherlands, and Southern Germany/Austria. When at rest, the Siberian Winter Damsel folds its four wings together along one side of its abdomen, in which case the long and narrow pterostigmas in the front wings are aligned in front of those in the rear wings (rather than on top of them). The species also has the typical habit of whipping its abdomen up and down a few times when alighting. The most distinctive physical feature to set it apart from Sympecma fusca is a small 'bulge' in its dark dorsal stripe.

For an overview of the Siberian Winter 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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