home

Chalcolestes viridis - Willow Emerald Damselfly

Phylum: Arthropoda - Class: Insecta - Order: Odonata - Family: Coenagriidae

Chalcolestes viridis, Willow Emerald Damselfly

Originating in central and southern mainland Europe, Willow Emerald Damselflies are recent arrivals in Britain. First recorded in 2007, by 2009 significant numbers of these colonists were being reported from East Anglia. Since then these metallic green damselflies have been spreading steadily northwards and westwards.

Description

The large pale pterostiga (wing spots) and an absence of blue colouring help distinguish this damselfly from other 'emerald' species. Males have very long abdomens relative to their wingspan. Significantly larger and more robust that the common Emerald Damselfly, the Willow Emerald males are 42 to 47 mm long, while females are noticeably smaller at 39 to 44 mm body length. As with other 'emeralds', these damselflies rest with their wings partly open rather than aligned together along their bodies.

Habitat

The Willow Emerald Damselfly is found mainly near ponds, canals and other stillwaters where willow trees or alder trees line the margins.

Life cycle

Willow Emerald damselflies can be seen between late May and September. They lay their eggs just below the water surface on the bark of waterside willow trees and alder trees.

Top of page...


Excited at the prospect of flyfishing? So are we, and we're pretty sure you would find the Winding River Mystery trilogy of action-packed thrillers gripping reading too. Dead Drift, Dead Cert, and Dead End are Pat O'Reilly's latest river-and-flyfishing based novels, and now they are available in ebook format. Full details on our website here...

Buy each volume in ebook format for only £2.47 on Amazon... Paperbacks also available on Amazon at £5.45 each.


Please Help Us: If you have found this information interesting and useful, please consider helping to keep First Nature online by making a small donation towards the web hosting and internet costs.

Any donations over and above the essential running costs will help support the conservation work of Plantlife, the Rivers Trust and charitable botanic gardens - as do author royalties and publisher proceeds from books by Pat and Sue.

© 1995 - 2024 First Nature: a not-for-profit volunteer-run resource

Please help to keep this free resource online...

Terms of use - Privacy policy - Disable cookies - Links policy