Common Hawker
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Family:	Aeshnidae
Genus:	Aeshna
Species:	A. juncea
Binomial name
Aeshna juncea (Linnaeus, 1758)

The Common Hawker or Sedge Darner (Aeshna juncea) is one of the larger species of hawker dragonflies. It is native to Eurasia and northern North America. The flight period is from June to early October.

It is 74 millimetres (2.9 in) long with a brown body. The male has a black abdomen with paired blue and yellow spots on each abdominal segment, and narrow stripes along the dorsal surface of the thorax. In the female, the abdomen is brown with yellow or sometimes green or blue spots. The wings of both sexes display a yellow costa (the major vein running along the leading edge of the wings). This species lacks the green thorax stripes of the Southern Hawker.

Common Hawker (male) hovering.

[edit] References

Aeshna juncea (TSN 185981). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 6 February 2006.

• Aeshna juncea species information at Dragonfly Ireland

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