Brachythemis leucosticta new to Cyprus
Nigel Cottle

On 11th August 2006 I found two females and a male Brachythemis leucosticta at Akhna Dam, Cyprus (35.02.59N, 033.47.55E. 34 metres ASL) This constitutes the first record for the island. At that time the male was obviously not mature, being not much darker than the females and with brown not black patches on the wings. On 17th August I visited the site with Christodoulos Makris and Yiannis Christofides who photographed the insects and confirmed my initial identification. By this time the male's wing patches had turned black and whilst the abdomen was now darker than that of the females it wasn't completely black as illustrated in the Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe. On 21st August I was only able to locate the male (abdomen colour the same as on 17th). Further visits by CM and YC on 26th and myself on 27th failed to locate the insects.

photo: Yiannis Christofides

photo: Christodoulos Makris

(Mail: Nigel Cottle, 28 August 2006)