COMMON PICTURE WING

Description:

Size: Male: Abdomen: 23-25mm,Hind wing: 33-36mm. Female: Abdomen:20-22mm, Hind wing: 28-37mm. Description: A medium sized dragonfly with butterfly like yellow and brown wings. Male: Frons iridescent green. Eyes: Dark reddish brown above. Thorax: Iridescent green. Legs: Black. Wings: The forewing is transparent and golden yellow. The wing tip, leading edge and centre of the wing are marked with deep coffee brown spots. The hindwing also has similar spots; however the central spot is absent. More over,the wing base is marked with an irregular brown patch. The trailing edge of the hindwing has a characteristic ‘W’ shaped coffee brown mark. Wing spot: Black. Abdomen: Black. Female: Wings: Tips of the forewings transparent. A dark brown opaque area extends to the centre of fore wing. This area borders a bright yellow hockey stick shaped patch. In hindwings the brown opaque area is more extensive and reaches upto the wing tip, which encloses a long yellow central patch and a small yellow spot towards the wing tip. This patch also borders yellow spots of wing margins. Wing spot: Black. Abdomen: Bluish black

Habitat:

A prominent dragonfly of marshes, paddy fields and ponds. This species is easily mistaken for a butterfly. A weak flier and frequently perches on aquatic weeds. This dragonfly is rarely seen away from water.

Notes:

Breeding: Breeds in marshes, ponds and paddy fields. Flight season: Throughout the year, especially near perennial marshes. Distribution: Throughout the Oriental region Reference Book:Dragonflies of India A Field Guide by K.A.Subramanian ,Editor Madhav Gadgil Published by Vigyan Prasar Department of Science and Technology A-50, Institutional Area, Sector-62 NOIDA 201 307 (Uttar Pradesh), India (Regd. Office: Technology Bhawan, New Delhi 110016) Phones: 0120-2404430-35 Fax: 91-120-2404437 E-mail: info@vigyanprasar.gov.in Website: http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in