Arktisk smaragdlibel
(Somatochlora arctica)

The Northern Emerald is a relatively dark and small dragonfly which occurs in Northern Europe and at high altitudes in Central Europe. In flight the males look practically black, as they alternate between hovering, cruising and incredibly fast darts when another male needs to be chased away. When cruising they typically hold their abdomen slightly raised (and therefore their head and eyes lowered), maybe in order to have a better chance of spotting an ovipositing female below. Our only site for this species so far is a forest-bordered swampy lake in Alto Adige (Northern Italy) at an altitude of about 1800 metres. Somatochlora arctica's main distinguishing feature is the male's rounded, pincer-shaped upper appendages. [Update: During a recent field trip to Finland we managed to photograph some females of the species; their main characteristics include the two large yellow spots on S3.]

For an overview of the Northern Emerald'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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