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Species account
Migrant Hawker
(Aeshna mixta)
Latreille, 1805
Hawkers (Aeshnidae) [Dragonflies] MIHA 24797
Hawkers (Aeshnidae) [Dragonflies] MIHA 24797
Efterårs-mosaikguldsmed (dk)
Esna Mixta (es)
Höstmosaikslända (se)
Synonyms (common):
Autumn Hawker (gb) Esna Falso Zafiro (es)
Synonyms (scientific):
Libellula coluberculus Harris, 1780 (nomen oblitum)
Aeshna anglicana Stephens, 1829
Aeschna alpina Selys, 1848
Aeshna habermayeri Glötz, 1923
Aeschna lucia Needham, 1930
Aeshna anglicana Stephens, 1829
Aeschna alpina Selys, 1848
Aeshna habermayeri Glötz, 1923
Aeschna lucia Needham, 1930
Measurements:
To 56-64mm Ab 43-54mm Hw 37-42mm
Generations:
Flight period:
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Identification:
Smallish. Both sexes weak shoulder stripes, yellowish triangle on S2, well-marked greenish spots on side of thorax. Long appendages.
Male has a well-marked blue belt on top of S2 and blue and brown along the rest of the abdomen.
Female is more brownish along the abdomen.
Special notes:
1) On 2025-09-13 and 2025-09-17 I had two different females with short appendages on Amager, Denmark. I had them in the same spot, which might suggest that they've origined from the same breed.
2) Wildermuth & Martens (p. 364) mentions that a male-colored [blue] form exists of the female (without further explanation). Is that true?
Male has a well-marked blue belt on top of S2 and blue and brown along the rest of the abdomen.
Female is more brownish along the abdomen.
Special notes:
1) On 2025-09-13 and 2025-09-17 I had two different females with short appendages on Amager, Denmark. I had them in the same spot, which might suggest that they've origined from the same breed.
2) Wildermuth & Martens (p. 364) mentions that a male-colored [blue] form exists of the female (without further explanation). Is that true?
Similar species:
Life stages:
The pair hook up near the water, but the mating takes place in trees and bushes away from the water and lasts up to an hour. The solo female then inserts the eggs into live or dead plant material just above the water surface. The eggs overwinter and hatch the next spring. The larvae develop rapidly during few months (same season). The imago-transformation takes place near the water on plants, up to 40 cm above the ground.
Distribution:
Most of Europe; absent Scotland, northern Ireland and northern Fennoscandinavia. Also present NW Africa, Turkey, Syria, Ukraine and Russia eastward to Myanmar and Japan. In Denmark widespread and present in all regions and islands.
Habitat:
Behavior:
Away from water in maturing period both sexes can attend large foraging flocks in forest clearings, with sun and out of the wind. In the breeding localities the males can fly above the vegetation at several meters altitude but are also very found of patrolling low in between the emerging reeds in the water, something the very similar affinis males [Sydlig Mosaikguldsmed] do not.
Host plants:
Dunhammer (Typha)
Tørvemos (Sphagnum)
Tagrør (Phragmites)
Rotten plant material
Tørvemos (Sphagnum)
Tagrør (Phragmites)
Rotten plant material
Endemic:
Redlist
(?):NE: Not evaluated
NA: Not applicable
DD: Data deficient
LC: Least concern
NT: Near threatened
VU: Vulnerable
EN: Endangered
CR: Critically endangered
EW: Extinct in the wild
EX: Extinct
RE: Regionally extinct
NA: Not applicable
DD: Data deficient
LC: Least concern
NT: Near threatened
VU: Vulnerable
EN: Endangered
CR: Critically endangered
EW: Extinct in the wild
EX: Extinct
RE: Regionally extinct
LC(global) LC(eu) LC(EU) LC(dk)
Status
Comment:
|
443
(3 photos)
2020-08-13 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Male Ellevehøjvej. |
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569
(1 photos)
2021-08-05 Møllekrog (Esrum sø), Denmark Imago Male |
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1138
(1 photos)
2022-08-17 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Male |
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1113
(1 photos)
2022-09-01 Jægersborg Dyrehave, Denmark Imago Male Flying in good numbers now. |
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2297
(2 photos)
2023-09-01 Travbaneparken, Denmark Imago Male Plejehjemsdammen. |
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2387
(2 photos)
2023-09-23 Søvang, Denmark Imago Male Vandhullet. One of two or three today. |
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3037
(1 photos)
2024-08-19 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Male Granatsø. Looking superficially alike, this male was sitting one meter from a male Blue-eyed Hawker [Sydlig Mosaikguldsmed], why it is easy to get the wrong numbers, if you're not careful. |
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3057
(2 photos)
2024-10-20 Nordjylland, Denmark Imago Male Left hindwing from above. Tinted by dirt. Found moribund in Nordjylland. The wing has been flattened showing the correct proportions and perspective of the veins and cells. Anal loop with two cell columns and anal triangle with three cells. |
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3377
(3 photos)
2025-09-09 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Male Engsø. Mature. There was no need to catch this one, except for trying, and adding a handson to the collection. In air they are practically impossible to catch, but this one was perched in the grass, and then it was another matter. As with one of the fonscolumbii darters of today being damaged, when I saw the broken leg of this mixta, I thought it was me, but there was nothing in the net, why I have to conclude, that the life of a dragonfly is simply a tough game! Captured |
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1890
(2 photos)
2022-07-14 Bøtø-skoven, Denmark Imago Female |
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1891
(3 photos)
2022-07-14 Bøtø-skoven, Denmark Imago Female |
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1845
(2 photos)
2022-07-26 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Female Bagstien, Pinseskoven. |
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1053
(1 photos)
2022-08-06 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Female Sydmøllerenden-syd. Teneral. One of two animals emerging from the water. |
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1137
(3 photos BOTH SIDES)
2022-08-17 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Female |
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1765
(2 photos)
2023-07-13 Kongelundsområdet, Denmark Imago Female Skovfogedmarken. The first of the year. |
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1991
(2 photos)
2023-07-26 Hvidovre Strandenge, Denmark Imago Female |
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2207
(2 photos)
2023-08-19 Vinkelhuse (Tårnby), Denmark Imago Female Welcoming a new visitor to the balcony! Only hung in the Mexican Ivy [Klokkeranke] for a short while to pay tribute to our connection on a deeper level of being. Beyond human misery and eternal ditto stupidity. |
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2248
(3 photos)
2023-08-21 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Female Granathøj. Egg-laying. |
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2277
(2 photos BOTH SIDES)
2023-08-26 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Female Fasanskoven. |
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2879
(1 photos)
2024-07-20 Bøtø-skoven, Denmark Imago Female Hovedstien ved p-pladsen. |
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3386
(2 photos)
2025-09-13 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Female SHV-lysningerne. Without appendages. My first thought was that the lost appendages, or very short ones, was the result of an accident or a fight, rather than an innate anomality, but finding another female in the exact same spot, 4 days later, I'm not so sure about that anymore. The other: 3387. Update jan 2026: Communicating with Dennis Paulson he often experience Aeshnids missing their cerci, and that this probably is caused during ovipositing, either by accident or perhaps by aquatic attack. Aberrant |
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3387
(3 photos BOTH SIDES)
2025-09-17 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Female SHV-lysningerne. Without appendages. This being the second female in a few days in the same spot without appendages, or very short ones. The other: 3386. Also see 3386 for comment. Aberrant |
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2298
(2 photos)
2023-09-04 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Male & Female Enghøj. Mating wheel. |
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3044
(2 photos)
2024-09-02 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Imago Male & Female Granatsø. Mating wheel. |
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1052
(1 photos)
2022-08-06 Kalvebod Fælled, Denmark Exuvia I'm guessing the species because I had two tenerals drying right next to this exuvia. Exuvia |