Blue feather dragonfly
Blue feather dragonfly | ||||||||||||
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Blue feather dragonfly ( Platycnemis pennipes ), male |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Platycnemis pennipes | ||||||||||||
( Pallas , 1771) |
The blue feather dragonfly ( Platycnemis pennipes ), formerly also often referred to as the common feather dragonfly , is a species of small dragonfly from the family of feather dragonflies (Platycnemididae).
features
The blue feather dragonfly is 3.5 cm long with a wingspan of 4.5 cm. At first glance, the species is very similar to the common dragonfly (Coenagrionidae). However, in the feathered dragonfly species, the rails ( tibia ) of the hind and middle legs are broadened and covered with herringbone-like thorns, which gives them a feather-like appearance.
Habitat and Distribution
The blue feather dragonfly reproduces in still waters as well as in slow-flowing waters, whereby it reaches the highest density of individuals in running waters with a good population of aquatic plants.
The species is considered a ponto-Caspian fauna element (distribution center in Southeast Europe and West Asia), but has also spread to Central and West Europe in the post-glacial period. It is a type of the deeper, heat-favored locations, which occurs mainly at heights of less than 500 m above sea level. Above 800 m above sea level it can only reproduce in exceptional cases.
Reproduction
When laying eggs, the female with attached male likes to stick the eggs into the flower stalks of the yellow pond rose . The larvae overwinter, the emergence (hatching of the flying insects) takes place in May and June of the following year.
photos
Female with a captured mayfly
literature
- A. Martens: Europe's feather dragonflies. Platycnemididae. (= Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei. Volume 626). Spectrum, Heidelberg 1996 / Westarp Sciences, Magdeburg 1996, ISBN 3-89432-458-9 .
- Klaus Sternberg: Platycnemis pennipes (Pallas, 1771), blue feather dragonfly. P. 452–463 in: Sternberg / Buchwald (Ed.): Die Libellen Baden-Württemberg. Volume 1, Ulmer, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8001-3508-6 .
Web links
- Blue feather dragonfly in the nature lexicon
- Platycnemis pennipes inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Clausnitzer, V., 2007. Accessed February 21, 2014.