Meerrombout
(Lindenia tetraphylla)

The Bladetail is Europe's largest gomphid. It's also our photographic pride and joy and we're very pleased to have contributed some insights into its distribution in Central Italy. Lindenia tetraphylla is a large but slender and elegant dragonfly. It's a positively rare species with only a few scattered sites in Greece, the Balkans and Italy. Its most distinguishing features (besides the separated eyes so typical of any European gomphid) include its sandy grey base colour with black markings, the orange band between the female's S1 and S2, and the four blades underneath S7-S8 which give the species its scientific and common names.

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