Lestes barbarus
Lestes barbarus (Fabricius, 1798)
Local names: Migrant spreadwing, Southern emerald damselfly, Shy emerald damselfly, Südliche Binsenjungfer, Zwervende pantserjuffer, Leste barbare, Sauvage
Species Information
Description
Like all of the other representatives of the family Lestidae it has the typical resting position with wings spread halfway open. The species can be directly identified by the bi-coloured pterostigma in the mature adults. The body is metallic green, yellowish underneath with the back part of the head light yellow and and the end of the abdomen and upper terminal appendages light in colour.
Lestes barbarus and Lestes virens are the only species in this family having the lower back of the head yellow (with a sharp contrast to the green upper part, distinguishing it from light-coloured tenerals of other species). The lower abdominal appendages of the male have thin and divergent tips. The ovipositor of the female is completely white with rounded valves.
Differs from L. virens and others by:
- Pale brown pterostigma, with outer half pale yellow.
- Pale yellow markings more extensive, most notably in the wide antehumeral stripes, pale-sided S9-S10 and whitish appendages.
- Male is barely pruinose; at most lightly and notably white on S10.
In parts of Iberia L. virens also has a two-tone pterostigma, but its pale portion occupies only about one-third, and bluish pruinosity is usually present on S9-10 of males.
Size
Habitat
Lestes barbatus favours sunny and shallow, often temporary, soft and brackish standing waters.The larvae are able to survive at salinity levels of 13%. Suitable habitats include large coastal wetlands, inland lakes, ponds, gravel pits, dune lakes and shallow bogs. The species is quick to colonise new habitats and often occurs at temporary ponds that are flooded in spring and desiccate during summer. Oviposition often takes place when the habitat is dry and eggs remain in diapause until the habitat is flooded again in spring.
Distribution
Lestes barbatus is common in southern and central Europe and is at presently common in Belgium, the Netherlands, northern Germany and Poland. Up to the 1990s it was rare in large parts of central and west Europe, being largely dependent on sporadic invasion from the south. Since 2000 it has expanded its range further northwards reaching Denmark, Lithuania and the south of both Great Britain and Sweden.
Flight Period
April to October in the southern parts, June to early September in the north.
Behavior
A strong wanderer and opportunist, good years it can migrate far away into new territories. Adults can thus be found far away from water, in theory just about anywhere. It typically choses habitats prone to desiccation, often seen ovipositing in completely dry areas. Look for it in and around very small waters even if they have desiccated. Search in medium-high vegetation where the sun reaches the ground in coastal regions as shallow lagoons, among dunes and other intermittent waters, created by floods.
Eggs are laid in dry vegetation and is hatched in spring if they become flooded. Exuviae are found low in vegetation on the shore or on straws out in the water.
Conservation Status
Similar Species
Lestes virens
External Links
Genus: Lestes
Lestes, or Spreadwings or Emerald Damselflies, is a genus of damselflies in the family Lestidae. The family hold their wings at about 45 degrees to the body when resting. This distinguishes them from most other species of damselflies which hold the wings along, and parallel to, the body when at rest.
Identification
Lestes damselflies are mostly metallic green and have partly pruinose bodies, large pterostigma and perch with wings spread, hence the name Spreadwings. Teneral individuals may perch with wings folded, and damselflies of other families may occasionally spread their wings, especially when agitated.
The venation has many pentagonal rathern than rectangular cells. The pterostigma and male appendages recall those of Sympecma. However these have a pale brown body, marked with dark bronze, and they parch with closed wings (sometimes folded along only one side of the abdomen)
Calopteryx also have metallic bodies and Epallage even combines pruinosity, long pterostigma and open wings at rest. Both these have multiple cross-veins between the wing base and the node.
Smaller damselflies, such as Erythromma, Ceriagrion and especially Nehalennia, can sometimes have metallic bodies, but they have large lozenge-shaped pterostigma. Their venation is more squarely mesh-like and they have differently configured markings.
In case of doubt, lestids never has longitudinal veins branch off the vein connecting the arculus and subnode.
Behaviour
Lestes males are very active, often hooking up with females of other species or other males but hybrids are not known from Lestes (only from the closely related Chalcolestes parvidens and Chalcolestes viridis.). The male and female oviposit in tandem, and eggs are typically placed in living plant tissue, often well above or away from water.
Lestes are hardy species, their eggs are cold- and drought-resistant, their larvae are fast-growing and the adults are highly mobile. This allows survival in seasonally dry habitats. These features are most strongly developed in L. barbarus. L. viridis might be the least hardy, instead it has specialised in ovipositing into the bark of living twigs.
Family: Lestidae
The Lestidae are a rather small family of cosmopolitan, large-sized, slender damselflies, known commonly as the spreadwings or spread-winged damselflies.
The two subfamilies in Lestidae are Lestinae and Sympecmatinae. Damselflies in the Lestinae rest with their wings partly open, while those in the Sympecmatinae, the reedlings, ringtails, and winter damselflies, rest with their wings folded. The exact taxonomy of the family is disputed, with some authorities including twelve genera and some eight.
Characteristics
While most damselflies rest with their wings folded together, most members of the family Lestidae hold them at an angle away from their bodies. The pterostigma is noticeably elongated. The quadrilateral has an acute angle at the end. The body has a greenish, metallic shine. The anal appendages of male spreadwings are long and strongly curved.
Breeding takes place in slow-moving or still water in stream backwaters, swamps, marshes and temporary pools. The nymphs have a long abdomen and a distinctive prementum.