It has a body length of 26 to 32 mm with a wingspan of 34 to 42 mm.
Like its sister species, it is a dark-coloured dragonfly with red eyes.
The male has red eyes and antehumeral stripes on the thorax, which are complete or interrupted. The upper side of the abdomen of segments S2-S8 is black, the sides of segments S2 and S3 are blue. Segments S9 and S10 are blue, which continues as a wedge on the sides of S8. Segment S10 bears a black X.
The female is very dark, the thorax and abdominal sides are mostly blue, green or yellow. The eyes are brown-reddish above. The antehumeral stripe is always complete.
It colonises smaller and larger stagnant bodies of water that are well sunlit and have well-developed underwater vegetation. Slow-flowing rivers are also colonised.
Literature:
- K.-D. Dijkstra, Libellen Europas, 2. Auflage, Haupt Verlag Bern 2021,ISBN 3-258-08219-6, S. 137
- K. Sternberg / R. Buchwald, Libellen Baden-Württembergs, Bd. 1, Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3508-6, S. 322–335
- H. Wildermuth, A. Martens, Die Libellen Europas, Quelle & Meyer Wiebelsheim 2018, 3-494-01690-9, S. 248 ff
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