Diplacodes lefebvrii

With its slim build and a body length of about 28 mm, the Black Percher is Europe's smallest dragonfly. In fact, when we saw it flying side by side with an Ischnura damselfly, it looked positively minuscule. Diplacodes lefebvrii is a rare species in Europe and is restricted to coastal areas in Spain and Portugal. Adult males are all glossy black except for the brownish eyes, the upper appendages (which tend to stay white) and a small yellow patch at the base of the hindwing. Immature males sport the same colours as mature females, i.e. black with yellow patches on the side of the thorax and the top of the abdomen, and again a yellow patch in the hindwing and white appendages. Rather confusingly, old females also appear all black, thus resembling adult males, but their colour tends to be a muted rather than glossy black.

For an overview of the Black Percher'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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