Can you ID these two dragonflies please?

[JohnN]

Would you mind IDing these please?





The green one was much bigger than the red one - twice the size if not a little more.

I'm going to guess Emperor (Green) and Common Darter (Red)

Cheers

[RoyW]

Common Darter and Southern Hawker (both males).

[JohnN]

Excellent, thank you.

By the way how can you tell they are males?

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by JohnN

By the way how can you tell they are males?

The bright colours of these two are a strong indication (in these species the females tend to be much duller). A better well of telling is to look at the shape of the appendages at the end of the abdomen though (+ a few other minor 'structural' differences because females can occasionally be as bright as males.