Common Darter
Fast Facts
Latin name: Sympetrum striolatum
Notable feature: Males are orange/red and females/ immature adults are a golden brown. They have pale leg stripes.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Where in the UK: Throughout the UK, central Europe and parts of Asia.
Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) © Victor
The Common Darter is a dragonfly that you are most likely to see darting across ponds, lakes, and other still waterbodies. They can also travel some distance from water in search of prey.
Males have an orange-red abdomen whilst the females and immature adults are a golden-brown colour.
Dragonflies are agile flyers and effective aerial predators. They hover in the air while searching for their prey before darting towards them and grabbing them, taking them to a perch to eat them.
The Common Darter can be difficult to tell apart from other dragonflies in the same genus, such as the Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum). Look for their pale leg stripes if you can spot them staying still for a moment – that’s a good sign that you’ve spotted a Common Darter.
- Size: 3.8 – 4.3cm.
- Life span: Up to a year as a nymph and only a few weeks as an adult dragonfly.
- Diet: Insectivorous.
- Reproduction: Dragonflies have three life stages: egg, nymph, and adult. During mating, a male Common Darter will transfer his sperm after grasping on to a female by the head with claspers on his abdomen. This is called the tandem position, and often a male and female will remain in this position until the female has laid her eggs. She dips her abdomen into the water and lays her eggs in a sticky substance along submerged plants. Eggs can take from a few weeks to a few months to hatch, depending on the time of year that they are laid. The dragonfly nymph hatches from the egg and remains under water for around a year, feeding on other invertebrates and undergoing moults as they grow. Once they’re almost fully grown, they leave the water to undergo their final moult and become adult Common Darters.
- When to see: Flight period May – October.
- Population Trend: Thought to be stable.
- Threats: Water pollution, loss of ponds and other freshwater habitats, and declining abundance of flying insects which make up their prey.
- Interesting Fact: In the south of their continental range, adults can be seen on the wing all year round.
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