Can anyone ID this dragonfly please

beeflysmith · #1 (**permalink**) 16-08-2011, 11:54 PM

Photographed in the RHS gardens at Wisley on 01/08/2011 (a very hot day ~29C) I think it may be a Hawker (common or brown??) Could anyone positively ID it for me please

aeshna5 · #2 (**permalink**) 17-08-2011, 04:18 AM

It is indeed a hawker- this is a Migrant Hawker ( a common resident species now as well as a migrant). Common Hawkers are quite rare in the south-east + only really on the Surrey heaths; Brown Hawkers have quite obviously brown tinted wings.

beeflysmith · #3 (**permalink**) 17-08-2011, 08:14 AM

Thanks for the reply Aeshna - I'm guessing from your handle this is a subject close to your heart? I've now looked up other images of the Migrant Hawker and they do indeed match my photo. Do you happen to know anything about the wing cells on Dragonflies (I discovered last year that this can be a means of identifying some diptera). My question is that on the photo I found of a female Aeshna mixta (which most closely resembles my photo) and counted the cells on the forewing from the (running out of correct terms here!) junction with the body to the 'bend', my photo shows 17 cells but the internet photo http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...in_Hamburg.JPG
shows 15 cells - is this significant?
Thanks again
Nick

RoyW · #4 (**permalink**) 17-08-2011, 08:39 AM

There are characteristics of the veination in the wings of dragons & damsel that can help with ID, but many of these only help identification to genus.
Male Migrant Hawkers tend to differ from other hawkers by having three cells in the anal triangle (at the base of the hind wing). Many features are variable between individuals of the same species though.