Black Percher (Diplacodes lefebvrii)
• English name: Black Percher
• German name: Glänzender Schwarzpfeil
• French name: N/A
• Dutch name: Moriaantje
• Swedish name: N/A
• Norwegian name: N/A
• Finnish name: N/A
• Danish name: N/A
• Italian name: Freccia carbone
• Czech name: N/A
• Slovenian name: N/A
• Bulgarian name: N/A
Black Percher
(Diplacodes lefebvrii)
Not present
Present before 1990
Present after 1990
Present before and after 1990
Present after 2015
Map data based on J.-P. Boudot & V. J. Kalkman (eds.),
Atlas of the European Dragonflies and Damselflies
| General | ➤ a very small species which in Europe occurs only in Iberia and Italy and on Sardinia, Rhodes and Cyprus | |
| Classification | • suborder: Anisoptera (dragonflies); family: Libellulidae | |
| Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Least Concern | |
| Scientific name | • Diplacodes lefebvrii (Rambur, 1842) | |
| Name genus | • Diplacodes: from Grk. δίπλαξ = double, two-sided +; -ώδης = resembling, -like ⇒ resembling (the previously named genus) Diplax | |
| Name species | • lefebvrii: after Alexandre Louis Lefèbvre de Cérisy (1798-1867), French entomologist | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| Habitat | • lakes and ponds but also slow-flowing rivers | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 25-34 mm; hindwing: 19-29 mm | |
| Notes | • libellulids are 'sitters': males spend a lot of time perched at the water's edge, waiting for females | |
| • immature males are coloured like females | ||
| Both sexes | Abdomen | ➤ the (upper) appendages are white |
| Wings | • the hindwing bears an orange patch at the base | |
| ➤ the large pterostigma is brown (cf. Brachythemis impartita) | ||
| Male | Thorax | • the thorax is black |
| Abdomen | • the abdomen is all black | |
| Female | Thorax | • in immature females the thorax is yellow with black lines on the side; in older females the thorax becomes dark (with yellow bands on the side) |
| Abdomen | • the abdomen is black with extensive yellow patches laterally | |
| Photographs | • nearly all of our photos below were made in Andalusia and Tunisia |
Diplacodes lefebvrii; appendages
Note: both the male (left) and female (right) have white appendages.
