Balkan Emerald
(Somatochlora meridionalis)

The Balkan Emerald replaces its virtually identical stable mate the Brilliant Emerald in Central Italy, the Balkans and Greece. It's a medium-sized dragonfly. In terms of its size, shape, colour and behaviour, it's practically indistinguishable from its more common congener, so for a positive ID one really needs to be lucky enough to get a close-up view. Having said that, Somatochlora meridionalis seems to have a very clear preference for running waters, unlike S. metallica, which seems a little less fussy and can be readily found at still waters too. So far we've found this species at three nearby sites but have never seen more than two individuals together. The species' only distinguishing feature (i.e. to distinguish it from S. metallica) is a single, yellow spot on the side of the thorax.

For an overview of the Balkan Emerald'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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