Calopteryx virgo (Linnaeus, 1758)

Males (45-49 mm) can be separated from other congeners by larger and more rounded wings, never completely blue. The ventral side of the last abdominal segments is pinkish. Females, metallic green colored, feature slightly brown wings with whitish pseudopterostigma.

In flight from May to October.

The larvae live only in streaming waters, clearly preferring those not wide and passing through woods, cool or cold, shady and well oxygenated.

It is a European species with distribution limits spreading from northern Finland to southern continental Italy. In our region this species is found even profusely in canals along the Stura and Tanaro rivers, but also in hill brooks at lower altitude.