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Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album)
Robert-le-Diable (Polygonia c-album)
Comma butterfly landed in a wet meadow. Limousin, France.
Robert-le-Diable posé dans une prairie humide. Limousin, France.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Insecta
Order:Odonata
Family:Aeshnidae
Genus:Anax
Species:A. imperator
Binomial name
Anax imperator
Synonyms . . Blue Emperor
Identification
When they first emerge, both sexes appear pale green with brown markings. The legs are brown with a yellow like base. Wings are born black but grow yellow-brown with age. Males have a sky blue abdomen marked with a diagnostic black dorsal stripe and an apple green thorax. The thorax and head of a male is green and their prominent eyes are blue. Females have similar markings but they are mainly green
Identification
Length: 7.8cm
Wingspan: 10.6cm
Males have a light, sky blue abdomen with a black line running down the centre of the dorsal side and greenish-blue eyes. Females have a yellow abdomen with similar markings and browner eyes. Black stripe on abdomen. Costa is bright yellow and pterostigma is brown on both. Both have an apple-green thorax.
Females resemble males but have a green rather than blue abdomen.
Adult habitat & habits
Very active dragonflies, they catch and eat their prey whilst in the air. Actively hunts over medium to large bodies of water and rarely settles.
Habitat
Found in areas with high volumes of pondweed, and other aquatic plants. Rarely seen far from aquatic habitats. Found in slow-moving/still water bodies e.g. lakes, ponds, canals, rivers, ditches etc.
Flight period
May to September (occasionally April, October and/or November)
They frequently fly high up into the sky in search of prey, which includes butterflies, other Odonata and tadpoles; small prey is eaten while flying. They breed in a variety of aquatic habitats from large ponds to dikes, but they require a plentiful supply of vegetation in the water. The females lay the eggs into plants such as pondweed, and always lay alone. The larvae are very aggressive and are likely to influence the native species composition of colonized freshwater ecosystems. The adult male is highly territorial, and difficult to approach. In the summer months emperor dragonflies are frequent visitors to gardens,