Sympecma
Common Winter Damselfly ( Sympecma fusca )
- Common Winter Damselfly ( Sympecma fusca )
- Siberian Winter Damselfly ( Sympecma paedisca )
The winter Dragonflies ( Sympecma ) belong to the family pond Virgin ( Lestidae ). The two representatives of this group is the only domestic dragonflies that overwinter as fully developed Imago.
Appearance
The winter dragonflies reach a wingspan of four to 4.5 centimeters. The body is slender and relatively long, ranges in color from a light beige to brown. Unlike all other pond Virgin winters dragonflies lay their wings directly on a back side together if they do not fly. The chest of the animals carrying two dark stripes. Here, the upper strip of the rarer Siberian winter dragonfly ( Sympecma paedisca ) to a small bulge, which is missing the commons Winter Damselfly ( Sympecma fusca ). The old, overwintered animals have bright deep blue eyes in the spring.
Way of life
As already mentioned, the winter dragonflies are the only dragonflies that spend the winter as adult animals. Here, you can find them in the winter usually a bit off the waters in various hiding places or in the vegetation. On sunny days they sometimes come out well, but otherwise they remain in their hiding places until April. The pairing is similar to the other pond Virgin, the eggs, the female stands in tandem position with the males in aquatic plants, both animals sit on the pad.
Larval development
The development from egg to imago takes place very quickly and lasts a maximum of about three months, of which about eight to ten weeks will be spent in the larval stage.
Species
In Central Europe, only the two mentioned species are to be found. Is far more common while the Common Winter Damselfly ( Sympecma fusca ), whose distribution area occupies the entire range of Western and Central Europe. The Siberian winter damsel ( Sympecma paedisca ) contrast, is to be found in Germany only on the lakes in northeast Germany and in the foothills of the Alps, its main distribution is in Eastern Europe and Asia.