Lestes virens
Lestes virens (Charpentier, 1825)
Local names: Small spreadwing, Kleine Binsenjungfer, Tengere pantserjuffer, Leste verdoyant, Mindre smaragdflickslända
Species Information
Description
Our most delicate Lestes, and normally easily separated by stature and colouration, although some Iberian populations recall L. barbarus. Most easily distinguished from the other Lestes species, except L. barbarus by the bi-coloured back of the head; it has a yellow lower part, a metallic green upper part with a sharp contrasting edge between the both. The body is brown-green and in males the abdomen has, uniquely, light blue pruinosity limited to S9 and S10 and absent from the base (S1 and S2). The lower abdominal appendages are light in colour.
The pterostigma is rectangular, light brown and outline with white.
Males lower abdominal appendages are noticeably short and straight. Females ovipositor is fairly weak; its pale sheath is more pointed than on L. barbarus but less than L. dryas and L. sponsa.
Some Iberian populations have the outer third part of the pterostigma pale yellow and are deceptively close-looking to Lestes barbarus (although L. barbarus has no blue pruinosity). Species from Africa, Iberian Peninsula, southern France and the Tyrrhenean islands have reduced dark markings, most clearly on the thorax.
Size
Habitat
Lestes virens is found in a variety of standing waters, either seasonal or permanent, particularly in lakes, ponds bordered with bushes, reeds, rushes, sedges and grasses, marshes and brackish swamps, and also in acidic peat bogs. The water bodies are often located in the vicinity of forests, where they are sheltered from the wind. They need to be exposed to direct sunlight and are often shallow. The species is most common in lowlands, although it has been found up to 1 40 m in the south of its range.
Distribution
Lestes virens range from western France, Iberia and northern Africa to Central Asia.In Europe it is widespread but the density of the populations vary greatly between regions and the species is rare in relatively large areas. Its northern limit reaches the south of Sweden and the Baltic states with a single record known from the south coast of Finland. Remarkably, it is absent from Great Britain and Ireland although suitable habitats and climate seem to be present in these countries.
Flight Period
May to November in the southern part of the range, June to August up north.
Conservation Status
Similar Species
Lestes barbarus, Lestes sponsa, Lestes dryas
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.