Beautiful Demoiselle

Calopteryx virgo

Locally common & widespread in Britain & Ireland.

Males usually have much more extensive pigmentation on the wings than other Calopteryx species.

Immature Males have brown wings, with the metallic blue wing colour developing only with age.

They have metallic blue-green bodies and blue-green eyes.

Females have dark brown iridescent wings, a white patch near the tip of the wings (called a pseudopterostigma) and a metallic green body with a bronze tip of the abdomen.

This species is similar to the Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens), another British damselfly with coloured wings.

Flies from April-early September.