Southern hawker
Aeshna cyanea (Müller, 1764)
The southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea) is an insect in the subgroup Dragonflies and damselflies, placed in the family Aeshnidae and the genus Aeshna. It belongs to the order Odonata, suborder Anisoptera and superfamily Aeshnoidea, within the class Insecta and phylum Arthropoda.
Quick facts about the southern hawker
Its scientific name authority is (Müller, 1764), and it also goes by the English names Blue hawker, Blue darner, Southern Aeshna and Southern hawker dragonfly. On the IUCN Red List it is assessed globally as Least Concern (LC), which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 6.7 cm – 7.6 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- arthropodssrc for Main food
- Habitat
- freshwater, wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the southern hawker?
Photos of the southern hawker
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the southern hawker live?
Not recorded
What is the southern hawker?
The southern hawker or blue hawker (Aeshna cyanea) is a species of hawker dragonfly.
From the Wikipedia article “Southern hawker” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Southern_hawker&oldid=1378932502), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the southern hawker endangered?
The southern hawker is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the southern hawker classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderOdonata
- familyAeshnidae
- genusAeshna
- SpeciesAeshna cyanea (Müller, 1764)
Synonyms Aeschna bicellulata, Aeschna cyanea, Aeschna cyanea subsp. bicellulata, Aeschna maculatissima, Aeshna bicellulata, Aeshna juncea, Aeshna juncea lapponica, Libellula aenea, Libellula anguis, Libellula cyanea, Libellula varia
Other names and names in other languages (46)
- Blue darnerEnglish
- Blue hawkerEnglish
- Blue hawkerEnglish
- Southern AeshnaEnglish
- Southern hawker dragonflyEnglish
- Espiadimonis de fanalCatalan
- šídlo modréCzech
- Gwas Neidr y DeWelsh
- Gwas-Neidr LlacharWelsh
- Gweision Neidr y DeWelsh
- Stor blå guldsmedDanish
- Blå mosaikguldsmedDanish
- Blaugrüne MosaikjungferGerman
- Esna de bosquesSpanish
- Esna verdeazuladaSpanish
- Metsa-tondihobuEstonian
- sinine tondihobuEstonian
- kirjoukonkorentoFinnish
- Æschne bleueFrench
- Aeschne BleueFrench
- Aeschne bleue (L')French
- L'aeschne BleueFrench
- tarbh-nathrach a' chinn a deasScottish Gaelic
- tairbh-nathrach a' chinn a deasScottish Gaelic
- Libeliña de cu azulGalician
- Modri kraljCroatian
- sebes acsaHungarian
- Dragone verdeazzurroItalian
- Mėlynžiedis laumžirgisLithuanian
- blågrønnlibelleNorwegian Bokmål
- blågrønn øyenstikkerNorwegian Bokmål
- Blau GlasemakerLow German
- Blauwe glazenmakerDutch
- blågrønlibelleNorwegian Nynorsk
- Żagnica sinaPolish
- Tira-olhos variadoPortuguese
- Коромысло синееRussian
- Šidlo modréSlovak
- Zelenomodra devaSlovenian
- Shëtitësja bluAlbanian
- Šumski kraljevićSerbian
- blågrön mosaiksländaSwedish
- grönbandad trollsländaSwedish
- Mavi Yırtıcı YusufçukTurkish
- Коромисло синєUkrainian
- 藍晏蜓Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the southern hawker
Other species in the same genus Aeshna.
Common Aeshna
Aeshna juncea
Brown Aeshna
Aeshna grandis
Scarce Aeshna
Aeshna mixta
Blue-eyed hawker
Aeshna affinis
Green hawker
Aeshna viridis
Bog hawker
Aeshna subarctica
CompareSouthern hawker vs Common AeshnaSouthern hawker vs Brown AeshnaSouthern hawker vs Scarce AeshnaSouthern hawker vs Blue-eyed hawker
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the southern hawker?
The southern hawker is an insect in the subgroup Dragonflies and damselflies. It belongs to the order Odonata and the family Aeshnidae.
What is the scientific name of the southern hawker?
The scientific name of the southern hawker is Aeshna cyanea, placing it in the genus Aeshna.
Is the southern hawker endangered?
No. Its global IUCN Red List category is Least Concern (LC), which is not a threatened category.
What other names does the southern hawker have?
Other English names for the southern hawker are Blue hawker, Blue darner, Southern Aeshna and Southern hawker dragonfly.
What suborder and superfamily does the southern hawker belong to?
The southern hawker belongs to the suborder Anisoptera and the superfamily Aeshnoidea.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-13. 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 - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - 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 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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). Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/southern-hawker
“Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/southern-hawker.
@misc{southern_hawker_2026,
title = {Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/southern-hawker},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}