Black darter
Sympetrum danae (Sulzer, 1776)
Status not recordeddragonflies
The black darter (Sympetrum danae) is a species in the family Libellulidae, order Odonata. Recorded adults reach 3.4 cm in length. Source checklists list it for 2 countries: Canada and United States.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the black darter
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 2.9 cm – 3.4 cm
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivore
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- freshwater, riverine, wetland
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- By day (diurnal)
- Generations a year
- One
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- 2 countriessrc for Countries on record
How big is the black darter?
Where does the black darter 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 black darter is listed for 2 countries.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Is the black darter 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 black darter classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderOdonata
- familyLibellulidae
- genusSympetrum
- SpeciesSympetrum danae (Sulzer, 1776)
Synonyms Libellula danae, Libellula nigra, Libellula nigricula, Libellula scotica, Libellula veronensis, Sympetrum arcticum, Sympetrum matrix, Sympetrum pallidistigma, Sympetrum pojarkovi, Sympetrum scoticum, Sympetrum verum
Other names and names in other languages (32)
- Black SympetrumEnglish
- Gweyll DuWelsh
- Sort hedelibelDanish
- Schwarze HeidelibelleGerman
- Alguacil oscuroSpanish
- Must-loigukiilEstonian
- tummasyyskorentoFinnish
- Rouget noirFrench
- Crni strijelacCroatian
- Fekete szitakötőHungarian
- Cardinale neroItalian
- ムツアカネJapanese
- 검정좀잠자리Korean
- Juosvoji SkėtėLithuanian
- Melnā klajumspāreLatvian
- svart høstlibelleNorwegian Bokmål
- Zwarte heidelibelDutch
- svarthaustlibelleNorwegian Nynorsk
- Szablak czarnyPolish
- стрекоза чернаяRussian
- vážka tmaváSlovak
- Črni kamenjakSlovenian
- Hedhësi zioshAlbanian
- Crni poljski konjicSerbian
- svart ängstrollsländaSwedish
- Тонкочеревець чорнийUkrainian
- Black Meadowhawkroot
- Gwäell DduWelsh
- Picellwr DuWelsh
- Sympétrum NoirFrench
- Sympétrum noir (Le)French
- Szablak szkockiPolish
Relatives of the black darter
Other species in the same genus Sympetrum.

Yellow-winged darter
Sympetrum flaveolum

Ruddy darter
Sympetrum sanguineum
Common darter
Sympetrum striolatum
Nomad
Sympetrum fonscolombii
Vagrant darter
Sympetrum vulgatum
Banded darter
Sympetrum pedemontanum
CompareBlack darter vs Yellow-winged darterBlack darter vs Ruddy darterBlack darter vs Common darterBlack darter vs Nomad
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the black darter?
An adult black darter measures 2.9 cm – 3.4 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the black darter live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the black darter for 2 countries: Canada and United States. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
What kind of animal is the black darter?
The black darter (Sympetrum danae) belongs to the family Libellulidae in the order Odonata.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - 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). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - 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). Black darter (Sympetrum danae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sympetrum-danae
“Black darter (Sympetrum danae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sympetrum-danae.
@misc{sympetrum_danae_2026,
title = {Black darter (Sympetrum danae)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sympetrum-danae},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}