Western demoiselle
The western demoiselle is a beautiful damselfly that lives by streams and rivers in southern France, Spain and Portugal. The male has dark coloured wings that flutter like little flags. The female is shiny metallic green with clear wings.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
A young male has clear wings at first. His wing colour only appears during his first week as a grown-up.
It is a close cousin of the banded demoiselle, and in places where both live they sometimes have babies together.
The females of the two cousins look almost exactly the same, even when you hold one in your hand.
The male's wing colour usually reaches all the way to the wingtips.
Most asked questions about Western demoiselle
?Where does the western demoiselle live?
Along streams and rivers in southern France, Spain and Portugal.
?Is the western demoiselle dangerous?
No. Damselflies cannot sting and are harmless.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Calopteryx xanthostoma
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Calopterygidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Calopterygidae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Yellow-tailed demoiselle
Where the facts come from
- Western demoiselle (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 Fturmo. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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