Kingdom Animalia Order Odonata Family Coenagrionidae Scientific name Pyrrhosoma nymphula Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Suborder Zygoptera Genus Pyrrhosoma Higher classification Pyrrhosoma | |
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Similar Pyrrhosoma, Odonate, Damselfly, Azure damselfly, Blue‑tailed damselfly | ||
Large red damselfly
The large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) is mainly a European damselfly, with some populations in Northern Africa and Western Asia.
Contents
Large red damselfly pyrrhosoma nymphula
Habitat
It inhabits ponds and dikes, and occasionally slow-moving rivers.
Identification
Females occur in three colour forms, but all have yellow bands around the abdominal segments. The form typica has more black on its abdominal segments than the form 'fulvipes', particularly segment 6. Immatures have lighter eyes and have yellow stripes on the thorax, not red.
They can easily be confused with small red damselflies, but the latter has orange legs, while the large red damselfly has black legs. In Greece and Albania a closely related species occurs, the Greek red damsel (Pyrrhosoma elisabethae). They look very much the same, the females only having a slightly different pronotum with deep folds in the hind margin. The males differ in their lower appendages, which are longer than the upper ones, while the black hook on the lower appendages is half as long as in the large red damselfly. The appendages of the large red damselfly can be seen in the gallery below.
Behaviour
One of the most common damselflies, the large red damselfly is often the first damselfly to emerge, usually in April or May.