Desert Darter
(Sympetrum sinaiticum)

The Desert Darter's presence is Europe is restricted to a few coastal areas in Southern and Eastern Spain. The species is at home in the arid regions of North-Africa and the Middle-East. Sympetrum sinaiticum is about the same size as S. striolatum but is much paler in its coloration. The species' most distinguishing feature, which both sexes share and which makes it easily distinguishable from a similarly pale species like S. meridionale, is a line of black bars on the side of abdominal segments 2 and 3. We photographed the species in the desert oases of Central Tunisia, where it occurred in good numbers.

For an overview of the Desert Darter'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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