The Oriental Lesser Emperor is a large East Asian dragonfly with an apple-green thorax and, in males, a sky-blue band near the base of the abdomen. It lives in Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan and is not found in the United States.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 2.5–3 in (65–75 mm) long. The eyes and thorax are green and the abdomen is brown. Males have a sky-blue band on the first abdominal segments; in females that band is green.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Ponds
- Reservoirs
- Rice paddies
- Range
- East Asia, including Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan. It does not occur in North America.
- Preferred conditions
- Still or very slow-moving fresh water such as ponds, reservoirs, and paddies.
Behavior
- Activity
- A fast, powerful flier that can hover. Males patrol back and forth along the shoreline to guard a territory.
- Overwintering
- Spends the winter as an aquatic .
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- Pairs often lay eggs while still joined in , with the female placing eggs one by one into the stems of water plants.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Many references treat this dragonfly as the East Asian subspecies of the Lesser Emperor (Anax parthenope julius). Some recent works treat the green-thoraxed eastern form as its own species, Anax julius.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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