is this a dragonfly or damsel fly or other?

[salliejo]

i apologise if this subject has previously been covered but only discovered web site today. xx

today we found body carcass (larve?) of front section of a larged winged insect. have taken photos on phone but they are not too good and i am unable to find out how to load them into this post.

section found measures 1inch from nose to end. body is in 3sections.

section one. is head. : round like a wasp with pair of very large black oblong eyes taking up whole of top of head (unlike some pictures i've looked at where eyes are on side of head with defined gap between them) running underneath both eyes is a stricking light green horizontal stripe.

section two has two very large pairs of wings. seethru in colour with a black lace pattern running through. between the wings on the body is a small red patch, which looks brighter on my phone picture than it does to the eye.
the colour of this body section is yellow and black like a wasp. stripes run diagonally from (if insect is facing to the right) top left to bottom right. colouring is yellow/black/yellow/black. The legs hang from this section.

section three is thin and tapered - going from section 2 above from right to left it is narrow then thickens out.

I thought it was a damsel fly but I cannot find pictures matching all the characteristics mentioned above. it is obvious that the owner of the skin out grew itself and thats why I only found a partial specimen. Unfortunately the insect has since been reunited with it's 'finder', my next door neighbour's daughter and I doubt if it's still in one piece.

I do hope the above description helps.

many thanks for any help xxx

[Hedge Witch]

Hi there, welcome to WAB.

It's possibly a Golden- ringed Dragonfly - Cordulegaster boltonii???

[salliejo]

many thanks for your speedy reply. after reading I looked at the photos of green ringed dragonflys on this site and they don't have the striking bright green band that runs horizontal under both eyes. the rest of the colouring matches but the body (section three) tapers in the wrong direction. my specimen joins the second section thin then increases in size. but until i'm told otherwise i'll go with your suggestion. Many thanks again for such a speedy response xxx

The find location is south birmingham 4miles from worcestershire/bromsgrove borders and although an outer edged district we have a lot of fields and grassland and streams locally.

[Dogghound]

What about the club tailed Dragonfly Gomphus vulgatissimus, although it seems alittle late. Just a guess need a photo really.

[salliejo]

using the directory facility above, i've checked their discription and although there is no photo available it says that the club dragonfly's eyes do not meet at the top, this factor distinguishes it from the others.

I may have been wrong in my assumption that it simply outgrew itself, as the rear end is missing it could have been a dropped food supply.

general feelings from fishing enthusiastic neighbours is dragonfly, but none have been as close up to one as now.

The other description I failed to notice is that between the pair of large oval eyes (that meet at the top) there is a brown oval disk (where the nose would be on a face) then the bright green stripe seems, on closer inspection, to mark the segments of a 4part mouth piece, and the colouring under the mouth area is yellow. x x x

[Dogghound]

I think your going to have to try and upload the image, there several species of dragonfly it could be, are you sure it is actually a dragonfly?