Lesser emperor
Anax parthenope (Selys, 1839)
Status not recordeddragonflies
The lesser emperor (Anax parthenope) is a species in the family Aeshnidae, order Odonata. Recorded adults reach 7.5 cm in length. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Vietnam.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the lesser emperor
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 6.2 cm – 7.5 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- freshwater, riverinesrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the lesser emperor?
Where does the lesser emperor live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The lesser emperor is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: WOL (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
Is the lesser emperor endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the lesser emperor classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderOdonata
- familyAeshnidae
- genusAnax
- SpeciesAnax parthenope (Selys, 1839)
Synonyms Aeschna parthenope, Aeshna parthenope, Anax bacchus, Anax geyri, Anax jordansi, Anax major, Anax parisinus
Other names and names in other languages (39)
- Lesser emperor dragonflyEnglish
- Little emperor dragonflyEnglish
- أمبراطور صغيرArabic
- يعسوب الأمبراطور الصغيرArabic
- Emperador menorCatalan
- šídlo tmavéCzech
- Ymerawdwr BachWelsh
- Ymerawdwyr BachWelsh
- Yr Ymerawdr BachWelsh
- Lille kejserguldsmedDanish
- Kleine KönigslibelleGerman
- Emperador pardoSpanish
- Kollavööt-kuningkiilEstonian
- sormusukonkorentoFinnish
- Anax NapolitainFrench
- Anax napolitain (L')French
- Emperador pequenoGalician
- סיירן נסיכיHebrew
- Mali carCroatian
- Tavi szitakötőHungarian
- barna óriásacsaHungarian
- Imperatore minoreItalian
- ギンヤンマ（銀蜻蜓）Japanese
- Karališkasis laumžirgisLithuanian
- തവിട്ട് രാജൻMalayalam
- Zuidelijke keizerlibelDutch
- Husarz ciemnyPolish
- Husarz mniejszyPolish
- Tira-olhos menorPortuguese
- Дозорщик темнолобыйRussian
- šidlo tmavéSlovak
- Modroriti spremljevalecSlovenian
- Perandori i vogëlAlbanian
- Mali carevićSerbian
- Мали царевићSerbian
- mindre kejsartrollsländaSwedish
- Küçük Kral YusufçukTurkish
- Дозорець малийUkrainian
- 碧偉蜓Chinese
Relatives of the lesser emperor
Other species in the same genus Anax.
Emperor dragonfly
Anax imperator
Green darner
Anax junius
Vagrant emperor dragonfly
Anax ephippiger
Emperor
Anax guttatus
Blue darner
Anax immaculifrons
Blue-spotted emperor
Anax nigrofasciatus
CompareLesser emperor vs Emperor dragonflyLesser emperor vs Green darnerLesser emperor vs Vagrant emperor dragonflyLesser emperor vs Emperor
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the lesser emperor?
An adult lesser emperor measures 6.2 cm – 7.5 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the lesser emperor live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the lesser emperor for 1 country: Vietnam. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
What kind of animal is the lesser emperor?
The lesser emperor (Anax parthenope) belongs to the family Aeshnidae in the order Odonata.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Lesser emperor (Anax parthenope). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-emperor
“Lesser emperor (Anax parthenope).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-emperor.
@misc{lesser_emperor_2026,
title = {Lesser emperor (Anax parthenope)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-emperor},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}