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ID please Sardinia dragonflies (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter creedence
- Start date
Phil Bishop
Well-known member
1. Keeled Skimmer
2. Common Darter
3.Keeled Skimmer I think
4. Red Veined I think
2. Common Darter
3.Keeled Skimmer I think
4. Red Veined I think
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
Red-veined should have an obvious blue, lower half to the eyes.
It also has yellow tibia so Common Darter IMO?
A
It also has yellow tibia so Common Darter IMO?
A
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Phil Bishop
Well-known member
Your right of course.
Interesting update
I was never happy with picture 1 being O. coerulescens and went through the pictures again. I found this one which shows the side of the thorax. This for me was quite a puzzle as it looks nothing like any other Orthetrum illustrated in Dijkstra. A continental friend pointed me in the right direction; it is O. brunneum! The site actually held O coerulescens, cancellatum and brunneum. Sorry for not providing this picture before, but perhaps I am not the only one to learn from this.
I was never happy with picture 1 being O. coerulescens and went through the pictures again. I found this one which shows the side of the thorax. This for me was quite a puzzle as it looks nothing like any other Orthetrum illustrated in Dijkstra. A continental friend pointed me in the right direction; it is O. brunneum! The site actually held O coerulescens, cancellatum and brunneum. Sorry for not providing this picture before, but perhaps I am not the only one to learn from this.
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pdwinter
Paul Winter
I somehow missed this thread
If Lewington illustrated Dijkstra with individuals of all ages then the book would be too big for us to carry in the field!
Attached an immature female Southern Skimmer (O.brunneum) from Spain in September 2015. As they get older they lose the shoulder stripes and so become less 'Keeled'-like.
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Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
The book isn't that old, are they doing a 2nd Ed already?
pdwinter
Paul Winter
So it is! I'm not being very observant lately - I looked at the small pterostigmas and the patterns and ignored the appendages. Two young males attached - one getting some pruinosity, the other not, and neither as dark as the one in your photo!
14 May 2020 according to a google search."The second edition includes fully revised regional guides and identification texts, updated distribution maps and conservation statuses, illustrated accounts for five species that have been discovered in the region since the first edition, updated checklists and taxonomy, new photographs throughout, as well as an introduction to larvae identification. Each species is lavishly illustrated with artworks of males, females and variations, as well as close-ups of important characters."
I know Dave Smallshire is working on a European guide although I'm not sure when that is due for publication - it will be good to have a guide with photos as well as drawings.
New editions of both Britain's Dragonflies and Dragonflies & Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland are due out over the next two months. Always good to spend the pension rather than save it!
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From my experience in Italy, the wing venation is the best separating characteristic between coerulescens and brunneum. Brunneum has a row of double cells below the Rspl (radial supplemental vein) while coerulescens has only the occasional doubled cell. You an see this on your first picture on the right forewing quite easily. Brunneum full males generally a more powdery baby blue than the purply blue (even on the thorax) of coerulescens towards the south of their range.
O
And the picture now I have found it: brunneum on the left, coerulescens on the right
O
Attachments
pdwinter
Paul Winter
Attached is a Keeled Skimmer from the Ober Water - 4 doubled cells! But of course that is an exception. I have looked through quite a few photos recently and the brunneum in my collection with the fewest doubled cells has three in the left wing and four in the right wing. My brunneum images otherwise have 4-7 doubled. I've seen an image of one with ten doubled cells.
Paul
