Ruddy Darter

They are redlisted, the thing is that they don't need to be threatened by extinction in Norway to be on the redlist, the idea is that if a species is on the international IUCN redlist the other countries in which the species are located have a unique responsibility to take care of them, in our national redlist this species are under the category NT(near threatened) internationally LT(least concern). Sometimes species that even are very rare can operate with huge numbers in a small area, if you check out my spotting http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/785... these creatures are very rare in Norway, but the area I found them was teaming with them...they where everywhere. Now by some strange reason it is not on the national redlist, cause I haven't found them anywhere else and I spend a lot of time in the forest :)

Are the ruddy darter redlisted? Didn't know that, but then i could be one of the other common darter or vagrant darter. When i was there it was a lot of them...

You're welcome! Btw if this really is the ruddy darter, you have found a redlist insect and should maybe notify someone about your findings, it could prove very valuable for the ones that work for preservation of wildlife ;)

Thanks for the help Gaia!

Well I found out there is only 31-33 species of dragonflies in Norway of this group http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98yenst... and four of these species are looking very much like the one you shot, I am confused a bit myself but it seems the only major difference between these species is the wingspan, I do not think it is Sympetrum striolatum, because its habitat is along the coast, I don't think it is Sympetrum nigrescens, because it is located along the western coast of Norway, that leaves us with Sympetrum vulgatum and Sympetrum sanguineum which both live in the same area and the size seems to be the main difference. Sympetrum vulgatum 50-60mm and Sympetrum sanguineum 55-65mm, I hope this helps :)

Thanks Gaia! Looks like you are right, but i just looked at the Common Darter, Vagrant Dater and they all are red and look very much alike. Confused!!!

I believe this is the species we are looking for, it matches the area of habitat and looks very alike if you ask me :) It is a male btw ;)