Western clubtail

Gomphus pulchellus

Eats: Other bugs and small animals Dragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The western clubtail is a pale olive-green dragonfly with bright blue eyes. It lives near clean ponds and canals in western Europe. Funny thing: it is called a clubtail, but its tail is not shaped like a club at all.

Lives in

Western Europe, but not Britain or Ireland, at clean ponds, canals and muddy pools

Length

4.7 to 5 cm (1.9 to 2 in)

Top speed

about 37 km/h (23 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. Dragonflies do not sting and do not bite people.

What does it eat?

It catches small flying insects in the air. Its young ones grow up in the water and hunt little water animals.

Photo of Western clubtail — Picture by Gilles San Martin. CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

as long as 8 grains of rice in a rowas long as 1.5 toy building bricks in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 10 secondsmoves 210 times its own body length every second

How big is Western clubtail compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

Western clubtail about 37 km/h (23 mph)

A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

It is the only clubtail dragonfly whose tail does not get wider at the end like a club.

It comes out early in spring. In the south of France you can see it already at the end of March.

It flies until about August, depending on where it lives.

It is happy living at clay pits and muddy holes, not only at ponds and canals.

you asked

Most asked questions about Western clubtail

?Why is it called a clubtail if its tail is not a club?

It belongs to the clubtail family, but it is the only one in the family without a club-shaped tail.

?How big is the western clubtail?

About 47 to 50 millimetres long, about as long as your finger.

?Does the western clubtail live in Britain?

No. It lives in western Europe, but not in the British Isles.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Gomphus pulchellus
Group: Dragonflies and damselflies
Family: Gomphidae
Classification: Insecta > Odonata > Gomphidae
Lives on: Europe

Where the facts come from

Gomphus pulchellus (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 Gilles San Martin. CC BY-SA 2.0, 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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