Siberian winter dragonfly
| Siberian winter dragonfly | ||||||||||||
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Sympecma paedisca , young female |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sympecma paedisca | ||||||||||||
| ( Brauer , 1877) |
The Siberian winter dragonfly ( Sympecma paedisca ) is a species of dragonfly from the genus of the winter dragonflies ( Sympecma ), which belongs to the family of the pond damsel (Lestidae).
description
The animals reach a wingspan of 4 to 4.5 centimeters. They have a light red-brown body with dark markings on the abdomen. The eyes and the top of the thorax are dark. The breasts of the animals have two dark stripes (humeral and ante-humeral stripes). The common winter dragonfly ( Sympecma fusca ) is very similar to it, but has a lighter colored belly. In the Siberian winter dragonfly, the upper dark stripe on the thorax (antehumeral) has a small bulge that is missing in the common winter dragonfly.
Occurrence
The Siberian winter dragonfly is particularly widespread in Asia and Eastern Europe , but occurs westward to the Rhone . It lives in plant-rich, standing water. In Germany the species is relatively rare and can be found almost exclusively in the foothills of the Alps and on the lake plateaus of northeast Germany.
Way of life
The Siberian winter dragonfly overwinters as an imago . This can be done either near the water or far away from water, where the animals can be found with luck in hiding places or hidden in the vegetation. On sunny days they interrupt their hibernation and can be seen flying around. From the beginning of April they can be found again in the water to mate and lay their eggs before the overwintering generation (recognizable in spring by bright deep blue eyes) dies at the end of May. The larval development is already completed after three months and the next generation will appear again from the end of July. In the water, the winter dragonflies usually sit quietly and well camouflaged on light-colored stems, laying their wings on their bodies. This wing position is atypical for pond maids. When laying eggs, the eggs are pierced into floating parts of the plant. Only rarely does this not happen in tandem. The behavior is similar to that of S. fusca .
Not much is known about its development, but it is likely to be similar to that of S. fusca .
literature
- Gerhard Jurzitza: The Kosmos dragonfly guide . Franckh-Kosmos Verlags GmbH & Co., Stuttgart, 2000, ISBN 3-440-08402-7 .