Selysiothemis nigra (Black Pennant)
These are suppose to exist at Gandia, Spain, near our Spanish pad. However, so far I have failed to find any there. We found a few females on our 2016 trip taking in Croatia. Later in 2016 we found just females again at the Parque Natural del Hondo, south of Alicante, Spain. The girls are great but a handsome black male would’ve clinched it.
2017 brought better luck, again at Hondo but about three weeks later season (I wonder if that was significant?) when we found a clutch of handsome black males.
Once seen, the very faintly veined, diaphanous fluttering wings (giving them the name, pennant) are a bit of a giveaway. The “=” sign pterostigmas are distinctive, too.
Id Notes
- A small dragonfly with an relatively large head
- very faint, almost transparent wing veins
- broad hindwing
- pale pterostigmas thickly lined with black for and aft (“=” sign)
- ♂ largely black when mature – sort of blue-black
