Crocothemis


Crocothemis is a genus of dragonflies in the Libellulidae family,
subfamily Sympetrinae. Various species of this genus occur in southern Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Southwest Pacific. They are generally small to medium-sized dragonflies.
These dragonflies are often noticed due to their colours. Males are generally very brightly coloured, ranging from totally red in several species, to the rich blue of Australia's C. nigrifrons. As with many Libellulid species, the females tend to be dull brown or orange.
Like most libellulids they tend to perch on sticks, reeds or stones near water, flying out to catch insects then returning to their perch.

Species

The genus contains the following species:
MaleFemaleScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Crocothemis brevistigma Pinhey, 1961Spotted ScarletIkelenge, Mwinilunga, Zambia
Crocothemis chaldaeorum Morton, 1920Bahrain; Iran; Iraq; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Kuwait
Crocothemis corocea Navás, 1918
Crocothemis divisa Karsch, 1898divisa scarlet, slender scarlet, slender scarlet-dartertropical Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar
Crocothemis erythraea scarlet darter, broad scarletsouthern Europe and throughout Africa, western Asia as far as southern China
Crocothemis nigrifrons black-headed skimmerAustralia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.
Crocothemis sanguinolenta little scarlet, slim scarlet-darter, small scarletAfrica south of the Sahara, in the Levant, and in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
Crocothemis saxicolor Ris, 1921granite scarletMalawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, possibly Liberia, and possibly Sierra Leone.
Crocothemis servilia scarlet skimmer, oriental scarleteast and southeast Asia
Crocothemis striata Lohmann, 1981Black-legged ScarletMadagascar