Scarce Emerald Damselfly

Taxobox
name = Scarce Emerald Damselfly


regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Odonata
subordo = Zygoptera
familia = Lestidae
genus = "Lestes"
species = "L. dryas"
binomial = "Lestes dryas"
binomial_authority = (Kirby, 1890)

The Scarce Emerald Damselfly ("Lestes dryas") is a species of damselfly. In Britain, it is found only in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk and is a rare and enigmatic species, which tolerates extreme conditions that few other dragonflies can survive.

Identification

Like the Emerald Damselfly, both sexes have largely metallic green bodies with a bronze iridescence, and often rest with their wings half spread.

The male has blue eyes. Powder blue pruinescence develops on the front and end of the abdomen, the pronotum and the sides of the thorax.

The female has brown eyes, a chunky abdomen, lacking any blue, with beige underparts.

Eggs and larva

Elongated eggs are laid, usually above water, into plant stems, such as rushes, which are covered as water levels rise in winter. The eggs hatch in Spring and the larvae emerge after about eight weeks.

They breed mainly round the Thames estuary and in a few inland lakes in Norfolk and Ireland.

Behaviour

Adults fly from June to August, slightly earlier in summer than the Emerald Damselfly and tend to live in dense vegetation.

Population in Britain

It was believed to be extinct in Britain before being rediscovered in 1983. Since then it has been found at several sites in south-east England.