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Sticker of Black pennant
Bug card No. 0416 of 4,939

Black pennant

Selysiothemis nigra

The black pennant is a small dragonfly. A grown-up male is black with a white powdery belly, clear wings and white wing veins. Young males and females look completely different, pale grey-yellow or golden brown.

Lives in
Central Asia, the Middle East and the coasts of the Mediterranean and Black Sea
Top speed
about 40 km/h (25 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies have no sting, so you can just watch it fly.
What does it eat?
It catches small flying insects in the air. Its babies live under water and hunt tiny water animals.
For real!Photo of Black pennant
Picture by (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is the only kind in its group. It has no close cousins that look just like it.

2

Its tail is about 2 centimetres long and each back wing is about 2.5 centimetres long.

3

Each wing has a small white spot near the tip.

4

In Europe it lives mostly along the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

you asked

Most asked questions about Black pennant

?Is the black pennant dangerous?

No. Dragonflies have no sting and are harmless to people.

?Where does the black pennant live?

In Central Asia, the Middle East and along the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Selysiothemis nigra
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Libellulidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Black pennant (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Dragonflies and damselflies

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores

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