Violet Dropwing
(Trithemis annulata)

The Violet Dropwing is one of our most strikingly pretty dragonflies. It's a medium-sized species of African origins which is reasonably common and widespread along the Mediterranean coast. Trithemis annulata females have a yellow abdomen and a white-and-yellow thorax, both of which are marked with strong black lines. She also has a sizeable deep-yellow patch at the base of her hind wing. But the species' showcase feature is really the violet colour of the male's thorax and abdominal segments 1-7. In fact, this purple colour is the combination of a bright red ground colour overlaid with a fine bluish pruinescence. To complete the male's garish outfit, his face, eyes and S8-10 are bright red and the vertex around his occelli is a shiny, metallic purple.

Click a thumbnail to display a larger version (1050 x 700 pixels) of each picture. And then, if you'd like to get even closer, you can drag the ZoomBox from the top-left corner across the photograph.

Please note: you may have to refresh the photo window manually (by pressing F5 on your keyboard) for the ZoomBox to display correctly.