Red-veined Meadowhawk

Sympetrum madidum

Sympetrum madidum is a dragonfly of the genus darters (Sympetrum ) of the subfamily Sympetrinae. It occurs in the U.S. and British Guiana. The American name is Red- veined Meadowhawk.

Features and nutrition

The nymph is relatively small with 16 mm, green - brown mottled and those of Sympetrum pallipes very similar. It feeds on aquatic insects such as mosquito, fly and mayfly larvae, and freshwater shrimp. Even small fish and tadpoles are not safe from her. The Imago reaches a length of 40 to 45 mm. Mainly, it differs in its red veins in the wing and a reddish / golden -tinged hue of other members of the genus darters (Sympetrum ). The males are red on the head and abdomen, thorax dark with yellow spots on the sides, while the females are yellowish - brown in color. Sympetrum madidum feeds on almost all flying insects, which have a not to hard shell, such as mosquitoes, small butterflies, mayflies, flying ants and termites

Naming

The species was first described as Diplax madida in 1861 by Hermann August Hagen basis of a female animal from Missouri. The holotype is now in the Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology. 1875 Hagen still delivered a nom. nud. Description as Diplax flaviscota. Under this name he also described in 1888 a male from San Diego today is also in the Agassiz Museum. Between described Edmond de Selys - Longchamps 1883, a male specimen as Diplax chrysoptera. This animal is now in the Sely 's Collection.