Grosse Quelljungfer
(Cordulegaster heros)

The Balkan Goldenring (Cordulegaster heros) is a member of the so-called boltonii complex. During a field trip to the Peloponnese in 2010 we saw and photographed a limited number of males and females but did not manage, alas, to photograph any of the latter. In the field Cordulegaster heros proved to be relatively easily distinguishable from the hordes of Cordulegaster helladica which flew at the same sites; C. heros is clearly the larger and darker of the two species. The species' most distinguishing features include the shape of the male's upper appendages (almost touching at the base and from there diverging and curved), the number of cells in the anal triangle (typically five), and the pattern of the yellow marks on the side of the thorax and of S1. For an overview of the key differences between the species of the boltonii-complex and those of the bidentata-complex, hover your mouse pointer here.

For an overview of the Balkan 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).

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