Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 30, 2026

Sympetrum

Sympetrum is a genus of small to medium-sized skimmer dragonflies, known as darters in Europe and as meadowhawks in North America. The more than 50 species predominantly live in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere; 11 species are native to Europe and 15 species native to North America, and most of the rest in Asia. A few species also occur in tropical and southern Africa and in South America, but none is native to Australasia.

Last revised
Jun 30, 2026
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≈ 3 min
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Citations
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Source
Wikipedia ↗
Darters or
Meadowhawks
Sympetrum fonscolombii
White-faced Meadowhawks (Sympetrum obtrusum) in "wheel position", Shirleys Bay, Ottawa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Infraorder: Anisoptera
Superfamily: Libelluloidea
Family: Libellulidae
Subfamily: Sympetrinae
Genus: Sympetrum
Newman, 1833
Hybrid mating between male S. meridionale (top) and female S. fonscolombii (bottom)
Sympetrum commixtum, Nepal source ↗
Sympetrum vicinum mating source ↗

Sympetrum is a genus of small to medium-sized skimmer dragonflies, known as darters in Europe and as meadowhawks in North America. The more than 50 species predominantly live in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere; 11 species are native to Europe and 15 species native to North America, and most of the rest in Asia. A few species also occur in tropical and southern Africa (S. fonscolombii) and in South America (S. evanescens, S. gilvum, S. roraimae, S. villosum), but none is native to Australasia.1

Most species fly in late summer and autumn, breeding in ponds and foraging over meadows. Commonly, they are yellow-gold as juveniles, with mature males and some females becoming bright red or orange-red on part or all of their bodies. An exception to this scheme is the Holarctic black darter or black meadowhawk (Sympetrum danae), which has black males with no red.23

The genus includes the following species:1

  • Sympetrum ambiguum (Rambur, 1842) – blue-faced meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum anomalum Needham, 1930
  • Sympetrum arenicolor Jödicke, 1994
  • Sympetrum baccha (Selys, 1884)
  • Sympetrum chaconi De Marmels, 1994
  • Sympetrum commixtum (Selys, 1884)
  • Sympetrum cordulegaster (Selys, 1883)
  • Sympetrum corruptum (Hagen, 1861) – variegated meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum costiferum (Hagen, 1861) – saffron-winged meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum croceolum (Selys, 1883)
  • Sympetrum daliensis Zhu, 1999
  • Sympetrum danae (Sulzer, 1776) – black darter,5 black meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum darwinianum Selys, 1883
  • Sympetrum depressiusculum (Selys, 1841) – spotted darter6
  • Sympetrum dilatatum (Calvert, 1892) – St. Helena darter7
  • Sympetrum durum Bartenev, 1916
  • Sympetrum eroticum (Selys, 1883)
  • Sympetrum evanescens De Marmels, 1992
  • Sympetrum flaveolum (Linnaeus, 1758) – yellow-winged darter5
  • Sympetrum fonscolombii (Selys, 1840) – red-veined darter,5 nomad8
  • Sympetrum frequens (Selys, 1883)9
  • Sympetrum gilvum (Selys, 1884)
  • Sympetrum gracile Oguma, 1915
  • Sympetrum haematoneura Fraser, 1924
  • Sympetrum haritonovi Borisov, 1983 – dwarf darter10
  • Sympetrum himalayanum Navás, 1934
  • Sympetrum hypomelas (Selys, 1884)
  • Sympetrum illotum (Hagen, 1861) – cardinal meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum imitans (Selys, 1886)
  • Sympetrum infuscatum (Selys, 1883)
  • Sympetrum internum Montgomery, 1943 – cherry-faced meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum kunckeli (Selys, 1884)
  • Sympetrum maculatum Oguma, 1922
  • Sympetrum madidum (Hagen, 1861) – red-veined meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum meridionale (Selys, 1841) – southern darter6
  • Sympetrum nigrifemur (Selys, 1884) – island darter11
  • Sympetrum nigrocreatum Calvert, 1920 – Talamanca meadowhawk12
  • Sympetrum nomurai Asahina, 1997
  • Sympetrum obtrusum (Hagen, 1861) – white-faced meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum orientale (Selys, 1883)
  • Sympetrum pallipes (Hagen, 1874) – striped meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum paramo De Marmels, 2001
  • Sympetrum parvulum (Bartenev, 1912)
  • Sympetrum pedemontanum (Müller, 1766) – banded darter5
  • Sympetrum risi Bartenev, 1914
  • Sympetrum roraimae De Marmels, 1988
  • Sympetrum rubicundulum (Say, 1840) – ruby meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum ruptum Needham, 1930
  • Sympetrum sanguineum (Müller, 1764) – ruddy darter5
  • Sympetrum semicinctum (Say, 1840) – band-winged meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum signiferum Cannings & Garrison, 1991
  • Sympetrum sinaiticum Dumont, 1977 – desert darter6
  • Sympetrum speciosum Oguma, 1915
  • Sympetrum striolatum (Charpentier, 1840) – common darter5
  • Sympetrum tibiale (Ris, 1897)
  • Sympetrum uniforme (Selys, 1883)
  • Sympetrum verum Bartenev, 1916
  • Sympetrum vicinum (Hagen, 1861) – yellow-legged meadowhawk,13 autumn meadowhawk4
  • Sympetrum villosum Ris, 1911
  • Sympetrum vulgatum (Linnaeus, 1758) – vagrant darter,5 moustached darter6
  • Sympetrum xiaoi Han & Zhu, 1997
References

References

  1. Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. "World Odonata List". OdonataCentral. University of Alabama.
  2. Smallshire, Dave; Swash, Andy (14 July 2020). Europe's Dragonflies. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 300–301. ISBN 978-0-691-16895-1.
  3. Needham, James G.; Minter J. Westfall Jr.; Michael L. May (2000). Dragonflies of North America (rev. ed.). Gainesville, FL: Scientific Publishers. p. 795. ISBN 0-945417-94-2.
  4. "North American Odonata". University of Puget Sound. 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  5. "British Dragonfly Society Species Checklist". British Dragonfly Society. Retrieved 25 March 2026.
  6. "Checklist, English common names". DragonflyPix.com. Retrieved 5 August 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  7. Suhling, F. & Martens, A. (2011). "Sympetrum dilatatum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2011 e.T21226A9259879. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T21226A9259879.en.
  8. Samways, Michael J. (2008). Dragonflies and damselflies of South Africa (1st ed.). Sofia: Pensoft. ISBN 978-954-642-330-6.
  9. Autumn Darter, Kochi
  10. Clausnitzer, V. (2009). "Sympetrum haritonovi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009 e.T158697A5261939. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009-2.RLTS.T158697A5261939.en.
  11. Clausnitzer, V.; Kalkman, V.J. (2020). "Sympetrum nigrifemur". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020 e.T60292A140601430. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T60292A140601430.en.
  12. Paulson, D. R. (2009). "Sympetrum nigrocreatum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009 e.T164924A5939416. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009-2.RLTS.T164924A5939416.en.
  13. Dunkle, S. W. (2000). Dragonflies through Binoculars. OUP.
External links
  • Media related to Sympetrum at Wikimedia Commons