Groene haaklibel
(Paragomphus genei)

The Green Hooktail takes its common name from the male's long, downward-curved upper appendages, which it combines with broad flaps along S8 and S9. In a subtle way it's quite a garish species; from a distance it may look a mottled, drab brown, but get up close and you'll see a marvellous array of colours: a sandy-brown abdomen with yellow, beige and black stripes, spots and patches; a green thorax with brown stripes; a yellow costa; blue eyes and green pterostigmas. Paragomphus genei, like other gomphids, perches often and long and is fairly easily approachable. It's an African species with just a few outposts in the Mediterranean, notably in Iberia and on Sardinia. We made our photographs of this species in the Extremadura region of Central Spain and, more recently, in Southern Spain and in Tunisia.

For an overview of the Green Hooktail'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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