Description / Habitats / Flora / Vertebrates / Insects / Invertebrates / What's that Bug?
Home / Nestos Delta / Bibliography / About this site / Links / Contents / Galleries
____________________________________________________________________________
DRAGONFLIES
Although in spring and early summer rivers and streams cascade down from the Thásos mountains, the majority of these soon dry up and by July permanent water bodies are extremely scarce on the island. A couple of kilometres up behind the mountain village of Maries there is the small reservoir of Lákos Kastróu [see van de Mast & Gruwel (1999) for details] but otherwise breeding habitat for dragonflies is in very short supply.
Lopau (1999) summarised available published and unpublished records of Odonata from Thásos up the end of 1998, having visited the island in May 1996 and June 1997. His records cover a total of twenty-six species, amongst which the record of Ceriagrion tenellum at Skala Prinos is noteworthy. It is now recognised that tenellum is largely a species of western Europe and it is replaced by C. georgifreyi in the eastern parts of its range. The Thásos record is considered to refer to the latter, which is otherwise known only from the Greek islands of Zakinthos and Corfu and along the Mediterranean coast from Turkey to Israel. To this list, I can add the record of a single specimen of Lindenia tetraphylla, photographed on the outskirts of Limenas in June 1982. This scarce species (determined by S.J. Brookes, BM(NH)) breeds in large water bodies with fringing reedbeds and is unlikely to be resident on Thásos unless it inhabits Lákos Kastróu. Caliaeschna, Lindenia, C. georgifreyi and both Cordulegaster species are rare in Europe as a whole, with centres of distribution further to the east.
In mid-May 2016 several dragonflies were hawking along the edge of the fast-flowing stream south of Limenas. They were very active and never settled long enough for certain identification, but I suspect these were Gomphus schneiderii. Another (unconfirmed) individual was seen in a forest ride on Toumba at 850m asl later in the same week.
The most comprehensive text for identification is Askew (1988), which also provides an indication of which other dragonflies may occur in this part of Greece.
ODONATA CHECKLIST (nomenclature after Askew 1988)
ZYGOPTERA
Calopteryx virgo festiva (Brullé) Beautiful Demoiselle
Lestes viridis (Vander Linden) Willow Emerald Damselfly
Lestes barbarus (F.) Southern Emerald Damselfly
Lestes macrostigma (Eversmann) Dark Emerald Damselfly
Platycnemis pennipes (Pallas) White-legged Damselfly
Erythromma (Cercion) lindeni (Sélys) Goblet-marked Damselfly
Ischnura pumilio (Charpentier) Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly
Ischnura elegans (Vander Linden) Blue-tailed Damselfly
Ceriagrion georgifreyi (Schmidt) Turkish Red Damselfly
ANISOPTERA
Aeshna mixta Latreille Migrant Hawker
Aeshna affinis Vander Linden Southern Migrant Hawker
Aeshna isoceles (Müller) Green-eyed Hawker, Norfolk Hawker
Anax imperator Leach Emperor Dragonfly
Anax parthenope Sélys Lesser Emperor
Hemianax ephippiger (Burmeister) Vagrant Emperor
Caliaeschna microstigma (Schneider) Eastern Spectre
Onychogomphus forcipatus (Linnaeus) Small Pincertail, Green-eyed Hook-tailed Dragonfly
Lindenia tetraphylla (Vander Linden) Bladetail
Gomphus schneiderii Sélys Turkish Clubtail
Cordulegaster picta Sélys Turkish Goldenring
Cordulegaster insignis Schneider Blue-Eyed Goldenring
Somatochlora flavomaculata (Vander Linden) Yellow-Spotted Emerald
Orthetrum cancellatum (L.) Black-tailed Skimmer
Orthetrum brunneum (Fonscolombe) Southern Skimmer
Orthetrum coerulescens (F.) Keeled Skimmer
Crocothemis erythraea (Brullé) Scarlet Darter
Sympetrum meridionale (Sélys) Southern Darter
Sympetrum fonscolombei (Sélys) Red-veined Darter
REFERENCES
Askew, R.R. (1988). The dragonflies of Europe. Harley Books, Colchester.
Lopau, W. 1999. Die Libellenfauna der griechischen Inseln Thássos, Samothráki und Limnos. Libellula, Supplement 2: 43-61.
van de Mast, T. & Gruwel, R. [1999]. Walking on Thassos. (Privately published booklet).
Crocothemis erythraea (Thomas Johansson)