About Calopteryx splendens (Harris, 1780)
Calopteryx splendens (Harris, 1780), commonly called the banded demoiselle, is a large species of damselfly. It reaches a maximum total length of 48 millimetres (1.9 in), with a maximum hindwing length of 36 millimetres (1.4 in). Males and females of this species differ widely in color and pattern. Males have translucent wings, each with a broad, dark iridescent blue-black spot or band across the outer section of the wing. Immature male individuals have dark brown wing spots instead. The male body can be metallic blue, bluish green, or a combination of the two, depending on location and time of year. The male's dark wing patch starts at the nodus, the slight dip located midway down the upper edge of the wing; in southern races of the species, this patch can extend all the way to the wing tip. This differs from the very similar beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo), whose dark wing patch starts before the nodus. Females have translucent, pale green iridescent wings with a white patch near the tip called a pseudopterostigma, and a body that is metallic green or bronze-green. This species inhabits many types of freshwater environments, and is particularly associated with open running water bodies including streams and smaller rivers. The banded demoiselle is a Eurasian species, found across the whole of Eurasia from the Atlantic coast east to Lake Baikal and north-western China. It has been recorded in Taganay National Park and Zyuratkul National Park in Russia, at Fruška Gora in Serbia, and throughout most of the British Isles, where it is absent from the Scottish Highlands.
