Southern Darter
(Sympetrum meridionale)

The Southern Darter occurs mainly in France, Italy, the Balkans and Greece. It's a medium-sized dragonfly. Sympetrum meridionale is really quite a nondescript species and as such is most easily identified by excluding the other, more characteristic Darter species. Its thorax and abdomen (orangey red in the male; yellow in the female) are pale and largely unmarked. On the other hand, this species maybe more than any other Darter, is very prone to being infested by parasitic mites (see some of our photographs below), which may help in their identification.

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