Orange-Spotted Emerald
(Oxygastra curtisii)

The Orange-Spotted Emerald must surely be one of Europe's prettiest dragonflies. It's certainly one of our favourite species. Although its common name suggests otherwise, it doesn't belong to the genus Somatochlora but sits all on its own in the genus Oxygastra. Oxygastra curtisii is a medium-sized, dark, metallic-green dragonfly. Its range is essentially limited to Iberia, France and Italy, although isolated populations exist further North, e.g. on the German-Luxembourg border. The species' most distinguishing features include the entirely dark face, the orange tint at the base of the wings especially in (immature) females, the all-green side of the abdomen, the whitish tuft on S10 of the male's abdomen, and - obviously - the orange-yellow spots on abdominal segments 1-8. We've been very fortunate to find strong populations of this species at some of our favourite lakes in the area.

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