''Sympetrum danae'', the black darter or black meadowhawk, is a

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

found in northern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. At about long, it is Britain's smallest resident dragonfly. It is a very active late

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

insect typical of heathland and moorland bog pools. Members of the genus ''

Sympetrum ''Sympetrum'' is a genus of small to medium-sized skimmer dragonflies, known as darters in the UK and as meadowhawks in North America. The more than 50 species predominantly live in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere; 15 species ar ...

'' are known as darters in the UK and as meadowhawks in the US and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Description

Both sexes have black legs and

pterostigma The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialized cells in the outer wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonflies, but present also in ...

ta and a very broad base to the hind wing. The

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

has yellow sides separated by a bold black panel in which are three yellow spots, resembling a highland darter ('' Sympetrum nigrescens''). The male has a mainly black

and

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

. The abdomen has small yellow marks on the side, that darken with age. The wings are clear. The female has black legs and brown eyes. The abdomen is mainly yellow, becoming browner with age. It has small yellow patches at the wing bases.

Breeding

This darter is restricted to acidic shallow pools, lake margins, and ditches in lowland heath and moorland bogs, usually with bog-mosses and rushes. Eggs are laid in flight by dipping the tip of the abdomen into the water. The eggs hatch the following spring and the larvae develop very rapidly, emerging after as little as two months. Black darters (Sympetrum danae) about to mate.jpg, about to mate Sympetrum danae.ogv, thumbtime=0:17, Males basking in the sun Females tend to choose where to lay their eggs based on the appearance of the site. Female meadowhawks also base the location of their oviposition on temperature. The females tend to gravitate more towards cooler climates rather than warmer climates. They are also likely to choose an oviposition site that contains little to no predators within the surrounding area.

Population and conservation

In the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

, this dragonfly is very locally distributed in the lowlands, but more widespread in the north-west and in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is often very locally abundant and maybe this triggers dispersal. Records from the south coast suggest that immigration from the continent does occur. Its main threats, however, are

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils can prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditions that harm root gro ...

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, and peat extraction.

Diet

The immature meadowhawk dragonflies feed on various organisms that can be found in aquatic environments. Some of their prey items include fly larvae, mosquito larvae, mayfly larvae,

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

, and small fish. The adult meadowhawks feed on smaller, typically flying insects. This, for example, includes

mosquitoes Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a family of small flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by '' mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body, ...

, flies,

moths Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (suborder Rhopalocera) a ...

, and

mayflies Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern United States, as Canadian soldiers in the American Great Lakes region, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the order ...

. Much of their diet consists of insects from the order

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...

Reproductive structures

One factor that distinguishes the female dragonfly from the male is the presence of two spermatheca, this trait is absent in males. Females also obtain spherical bursa copulatrix. Male dragonflies, on the other hand, possess copulatory organs that aid them during sperm competition. During this process, the males have the capability of removing the sperm of previous mates from the female and replacing it with their own sperm. Males can also be distinguished by their genitalia which is uniquely four-segmented.

Development

The development of ''Sympetrum danae'' is divided into seven different phases. The first phase begins with newly developed eggs. When eggs are first laid they are white in color, but after approximately 18 hours, they become grayish. The second phase takes place four days later when the structure of the yolk alters. It is then followed by the third stage on the eighth day. During this stage, the germ plate becomes visible to the naked eye. The fourth stage occurs on the tenth day. This is when segmentation throughout the body becomes noticeable. Then, on the second week the fifth stage occurs. The eyes, mouthparts, and antennae develop during this particular stage. Many days later, on the 189th day, the sixth stage takes place and the embryo flips 180 degrees. Lastly, the seventh stage. This happens on the 197th day and it is when development is complete. The dragonfly typically hatches from its shell 217 days after it was oviposited.

Female versus male activity

Meadowhawk males are typically more active in the morning hours. They spend most of their mornings in search of females to mate with. Their activity lessens in the afternoon. Female meadowhawks are the opposite. They tend to be more dormant in the early hours and more active at night. Male dragonflies are likely to be more active near ponds and bodies of water. Oppositely, females tend to be less active when near the water and prefer to be in areas with overgrown plants and grasses. Female dragonflies typically only go to the water when they are in search of a mate or if they are laying their eggs. Unlike female dragonflies, males have two different types of flight: search flight and patrol flight.