Bred blålibelle
(Libellula depressa)

The Broad-Bodied Chaser is an aptly-named species: its abdomen is indeed exceedingly broad and flat. It's a fairly large dragonfly which is common throughout Europe, although it's absent from Northern Scandinavia, Scotland and Ireland. Apart from its flattened abdomen, Libellula depressa's main distinguishing features include the male's light-blue abdomen with yellow patches laterally, the female's and immature male's brown abdomen (again with yellow patches), the pale and broad antehumeral stripes, and the brown patches at the wing bases. In this species more than any other we've observed a fair number of homeochromatic females, i.e. females sporting adult male colours.

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