Orange-Spotted Emerald (Oxygastra curtisii)
• English name: Orange-Spotted Emerald
• German name: Gekielter Flussfalke
• French name: Cordulie à corps fin
• Dutch name: Bronslibel
• Swedish name: N/A
• Norwegian name: N/A
• Finnish name: N/A
• Danish name: N/A
• Italian name: Smeralda di fiume
• Czech name: N/A
• Slovenian name: N/A
• Bulgarian name: N/A
Orange-Spotted Emerald
(Oxygastra curtisii)
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 medium-sized, slender, metallic-green species of (central and) southern Europe | |
| Classification | • suborder: Anisoptera (dragonflies); family: Incertae sedis | |
| Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Near Threatened | |
| Scientific name | • Oxygastra curtisii (Dale, 1834) | |
| Name genus | • Oxygastra: Latinized feminine form from Grk. ὀξύς = sharp, pointed +; -γαστρος = -bellied ⇒ for the male's elongated, downward-pointed abdominal segment 10 | |
| Name species | • curtisii: after John Curtis (1791-1862), English entomologist | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| Habitat | • slow-flowing rivers but also reed-bordered lakes | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 47-54 mm; hindwing: 33-36 mm | |
| Notes | • the only species in this genus | |
| Both sexes | Head | • the eyes are green (brown in immature animals) |
| Thorax | • the thorax is uniformly metallic green | |
| Abdomen | ➤ the abdomen is metallic green with large yellow/orange mid-dorsal patches on S1-S7 | |
| Male | Abdomen | • the abdomen is club-shaped, being at its widest at S8 |
| ➤ S10 bears a white crest | ||
| Female | Abdomen | • S10 is white on top |
| Wings | • in immature females the front portions of the wings have a suffused orange tint | |
| Photographs | • nearly all of our photos below were made in Tuscany |
LineDrawing: the female's abdomen in dorsal view.
Oxygastra curtisii; appendages, male
Note the white crest on S10.
Orange-Spotted Emerald (Oxygastra curtisii)
Female abdomen in dorsal view
Drawing by Ruth Ilka Nüß
© 2013 Lehmann & Nüß and DragonflyPix.com
