One of the season’s latest dragonflies on the wing, another of the large mosaic hawkers, probably most readily confused with females of A. juncea (Common Hawker), both females having curtailed antehumeral stripes. I don’t have that problem chez moi since the latter doesn’t live in my neck of the woods. Care needed when travelling, though.
As you may be able to tell from the collection of images below, this character is probably the easiest when it comes to snagging in-flight shots, which are really mostly in-hover shots. đŸ˜‰
Id Notes
- Modestly sized mosaic hawker
- Very short antehumeral stripes
- Yellow ‘nail’ mark atop S2
- Paired dots on each abdominal segment
- Brown costa
As mentioned above, Common Hawker (A. juncea) and Migrant Hawker (A. mixta) can be a source of confusion, particularly since both females have very short antehumeral stripes. Here is a diagram comparing the two to clarify.
| male | ||
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| female | ||
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| in cop | ||
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| in flight | ||
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