A beautiful demoiselle (Calopterix virgo), photographed in the park this summer by DKG.

It is hard to tell if this is a female or an immature male. A mature male Calopterix virgo has characteristic blue/black pigmented wings; impossible to miss. This is not a mature male.

Immature males and females both have brown wings like those pictured here but a female’s wings have a pseudo-pterostigma, a white spot on their outer edge which does not seem to be present in this picture.

The above specimen has the blue green body and pterostigma-less brown wings of an immature male but the tip of the abdomen seems to be bronze like a female’s. While DKG has focused so exactly on its head and thorax that the tip of the abdomen is slightly out of focus, it does appear to be furnished with an ovipositor rather than claspers.

Definitely a beautiful demoiselle but sex, as yet, undetermined.

Female beautiful demoiselle by Allan Hopkins (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)