cyprus female dragonflies (1 Viewer)

[Owene]

Am I correct in IDing this as a female Red-Veined Darter. (Cyprus early november) the side view isnt great for the markings on the final segment but the blue under eye is visible

 

[Owene]

And this is female Violet Dropwing? As red veined would have smaller coloured wing-base patches and thinner abdomen with more black at he end?

 

[Scridifer]

The first is certainly S. fonscolombii, not sure on the second Owen.

Chris

 

[pdwinter]

And this is female Violet Dropwing? As red veined would have smaller coloured wing-base patches and thinner abdomen with more black at he end?

It is a female Violet Dropwing Trithemis annulata (rather than RV Darter) because it has red/blue eyes with no black down the side of the frons, all black legs, dark markings along the side of the thorax, and a lot of crossveins off the costa (leading edge) (apart from the colouration and the way the wings are held!).

There is a lot of variation in the size of wing-base patches within species in both Red-veined Darter and Violet Dropwing so I wouldn't use that as an ID feature myself.

With a good view the easiest separating feature (between Sympetrum sp and Trithemis sp) is the wing venation as in attached pic (done for a spanish forum)

 

[Owene]

Thank you that was very helpful. The confusion species for the second one was red winged dropwing rather than darter. I should have been clearer

Edit sorry yes Red-Veined Dropwing

 

[pdwinter]

Using the names set out by Dijkstra there is a Red-veined Dropwing (Trithemis arteriosa) !

Anyway, your question makes more sense to me know.

Trithemis arteriosa has a lot of black down the side of the abdomen (e.g. http://www.dragonflypix.com/photos/trithemis_arteriosa_07.jpg ) which be the easiest way to separate it from Violet Dropwing.

 

[Owene]

thats the one, sorry was posting the clarification in a hurry on my phone and managed to make it confusing in a different way. There were a lot of Red-Veined Dropwing around when I saw the violet dropwing so it's good that I have the photo saved correctly