Pyrrhosoma nymphula, Large Red Damselfly

Common Name: Large Red Damselfly

Pyrrhosoma nymphula, commonly known as the Large Red Damselfly, is often the earliest dragonfly to appear and is relatively easy to identify being predominantly red and black, with black legs, which distinguish it from the Small Red Damselfly.

Measuring roughly 36mm in length, the Large Red Damselfly is a large, active, deep red damselfly with black legs and a bronze-black top to the thorax which has broad red or yellow stripes. The female exists in several colour forms varying in the amount of red and black on the abdomen from nearly all black in f. melanotum to mainly red in f. fulvipes. The pterostigma is black.

This is one of the earliest species to appear each spring and can be found in almost any freshwater habitat but rarely on fast-flowing rivers or streams. Widespread and common in Britain and Ireland.

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