With a body length of 70 to 76 mm and a wingspan of 8 to 9.5 cm, it is very similar to the Common hawker.
The thorax is brown in both sexes and has whitish to bluish or yellowish stripes on the sides. The front edges of the wings are brownish.
The abdomen of the male is black and has small, greenish to yellowish or bluish spots. On the thorax are the narrow, nail-shaped antehueral stripes with a pale blue colouring.
The female has a dark brown abdomen with yellowish to greenish spots and has no antehumeral stripes on the thorax.
The Subarctic darner mainly colonises raised bogs that are surrounded by coniferous forest and have areas without trees. It prefers well-sunlit waters that are low in nutrients.
Literature:
- K.-D. Dijkstra, Libellen Europas, 2. Auflage, Haupt Verlag Bern 2021,ISBN 3-258-08219-6, S. 164 f
- K. Sternberg / R. Buchwald, Libellen Baden-Württembergs, Bd. 2, Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3514-0, S. 93–109
- H. Wildermuth, A. Martens, Die Libellen Europas, Quelle & Meyer Wiebelsheim 2018, 3-494-01690-9, S. 374 ff
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