Common darter
The common darter is a small dragonfly that loves sunny perches. The males turn bright red as they grow up, and the females are yellow to brown. It sits very still and then darts off to catch a passing insect.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It keeps coming back to the same sunny spot, so it is one of the easiest dragonflies to take a photo of.
It is brave and tries to chase away much bigger dragonflies from its pond.
Its legs have a cream or yellow stripe on black, which helps you tell it from its cousins.
The mother does not lay her eggs on plants. The pair swing down together over the water and she drops the eggs in.
Sometimes hundreds of them gather in one field and sit in lines along gates.
Most asked questions about Common darter
?Do common darters bite?
No, they are harmless to people. They only catch small insects.
?Why are some common darters red and some yellow?
Young ones and females are yellow, and the males turn red as they grow up.
?When can I see a common darter?
In northern Europe from June to November, and in the warm south all year round.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Sympetrum striolatum
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Libellulidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Common darter (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Loz (L. B. Tettenborn). CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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