Yellow-winged darter
Sympetrum flaveolum (Linnaeus, 1758)
The yellow-winged darter (Sympetrum flaveolum) is an insect in the dragonflies and damselflies subgroup, placed in the family Libellulidae. It belongs to the order Odonata, suborder Anisoptera and superfamily Libelluloidea, within the genus Sympetrum.
Quick facts about the yellow-winged darter
The species was named by (Linnaeus, 1758) and is also called the Yellow-winged Sympetrum. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List in a global assessment, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 3.2 cm – 3.7 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- freshwater, wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Generations a year
- Onesrc for Generations a year
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the yellow-winged darter?
Photos of the yellow-winged darter
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the yellow-winged darter live?
Not recorded
What is the yellow-winged darter?
The yellow-winged darter (Sympetrum flaveolum) is a dragonfly found in Europe and mid and northern China. Breeding is confined to stagnant water, usually in peat bogs. Although not resident in the United Kingdom it occasionally migrates there in some numbers. Such 'Invasion Years' occurred in 1906, 1926, 1945, 1953, and 1995. On each occasion a small breeding colony appeared, but they have invariably died out after a few years.
An almost unmistakable darter, red-bodied in the male, with both sexes having large amounts of saffron-yellow colouration to the basal area of each wing, which is particularly noticeable on the hind-wings. Other Sympetrum species may have limited yellow-orange colouration near the extreme wing-bases, especially in females, but never so extensively as in this species.
Sites which are likely to attract this species have thick rushy margins. The yellow-winged darter tends to make quite short flights when settled at a site, and frequently perches quite low down on vegetation.
The yellow-winged darter has bred but is not established in the UK. It has occurred in Cumbria as single individuals on very few occasions. The most recent record was at Killington Reservoir in August 1995.
In Southern Europe, the nymphs of this dragonfly live in oligotrophic lakes with submerged vegetation, at high altitudes. As an abundant predator, the species has an important role in food chains of high altitude lakes.
From the Wikipedia article “Yellow-winged darter” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yellow-winged_darter&oldid=1381483793), 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 yellow-winged darter endangered?
The yellow-winged darter 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 yellow-winged darter classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderOdonata
- familyLibellulidae
- genusSympetrum
- SpeciesSympetrum flaveolum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Diplax flaveola, Libellula aurea, Libellula flaveolum, Libellula rubra, Libellula victoria, Sympetrum austrinum
Other names and names in other languages (56)
- Yellow-winged SympetrumEnglish
- হলদেপাখ ডার্টার (Holde pākh ḍārṭār)Bangla
- Žutokrili livadarBosnian
- Pixaví safranatCatalan
- vážka žlutaváCzech
- Gulvinget hedelibelDanish
- Gefleckte HeidelibelleGerman
- Alguacil montanoSpanish
- Libélula de alas amarillasSpanish
- Libélula montesanaSpanish
- kollane loigukiiEstonian
- Kollatähn-loigukiilEstonian
- elokorentoFinnish
- Sympétrum jauneFrench
- Sympétrum à ailes jaunesFrench
- Sympétrum jaune d'orFrench
- Sympétrum jaune d'or (Le)French
- sympétrum jaune dorFrench
- Sympétrum Jaune d’OrFrench
- Lavacú azafránGalician
- પીળા પાંખોવાળો ડાર્ટર (Pīḷā pāṅkhovāḷo ḍārṭar)Gujarati
- पीलेपंख वाला डार्टर (Pīlepaṅkh vālā ḍārṭar)Hindi
- Jantarni strijelacCroatian
- CapungIndonesian
- Cardinale doratoItalian
- エゾアカネJapanese
- ಹಳದಿ ರೆಕ್ಕೆಯ ಡಾರ್ಟರ್ (Haḷadi rekkeya ḍārṭar)Kannada
- 붉은좀잠자리Korean
- Geltonsparnė skėtėLithuanian
- Dzeltenā klajumspāreLatvian
- Dzeltenkāju klajumspāreLatvian
- SipatuangMinangkabau
- മഞ്ഞചിറകൻ ഡാർട്ടർ (Maññaciṟakaṉ ḍārṭṭar)Malayalam
- पिवळ्या पंखांचा डार्टर (Pivaḷyā paṅkhāñcā ḍārṭar)Marathi
- gulvingehøstlibelleNorwegian Bokmål
- gulvinget høstlibelleNorwegian Bokmål
- GeelvlekheidelibelDutch
- gulvenghaustlibelleNorwegian Nynorsk
- ਪੀਲੇ ਪੰਖਾਂ ਵਾਲਾ ਡਾਰਟਰ (Pīlē paṅkhāṁ vālā ḍārṭar)Punjabi
- Szablak żółtyPolish
- Libélula de asas amarelasPortuguese
- Libélula-de-asas-amarelasPortuguese
- Стрекоза жёлтаяRussian
- Сжатобрюх желтоватыйRussian
- Сжатобрюх жёлтыйRussian
- Стрекоза желтоватаяRussian
- पीतपक्षद्रुतगामी (Pītapakṣadrutagāmī)Sanskrit
- vážka žltoškvrnnáSlovak
- Rumeni kamenjakSlovenian
- Hedhësi krahëverdhëAlbanian
- Žutokrili poljski konjicSerbian
- gulfläckad ängstrollsländaSwedish
- மஞ்சள் இறக்கை டார்டர் (Mañcaḷ iṟakkai ṭārṭar)Tamil
- పసుపు రెక్కల డార్టర్ (Pasupu rekkala ḍārṭar)Telugu
- Тонкочеревець жовтийUkrainian
- 蝦黃赤蜻Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the yellow-winged darter
Other species in the same genus Sympetrum.
Ruddy darter
Sympetrum sanguineum
Common darter
Sympetrum striolatum
Nomad
Sympetrum fonscolombii
Vagrant darter
Sympetrum vulgatum
Black darter
Sympetrum danae
Banded darter
Sympetrum pedemontanum
CompareYellow-winged darter vs Ruddy darterYellow-winged darter vs Common darterYellow-winged darter vs NomadYellow-winged darter vs Vagrant darter
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 yellow-winged darter?
The yellow-winged darter is an insect in the dragonflies and damselflies subgroup. It belongs to the family Libellulidae in the order Odonata.
What is the scientific name of the yellow-winged darter?
Its scientific name is Sympetrum flaveolum, in the genus Sympetrum.
Who named Sympetrum flaveolum?
The species name is credited to (Linnaeus, 1758).
Is the yellow-winged darter endangered?
No. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List in a global assessment, which is not a threatened category.
What other names does the yellow-winged darter have?
It is also called the Yellow-winged Sympetrum.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. 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). Yellow-winged darter (Sympetrum flaveolum). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/yellow-winged-darter
“Yellow-winged darter (Sympetrum flaveolum).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/yellow-winged-darter.
@misc{yellow_winged_darter_2026,
title = {Yellow-winged darter (Sympetrum flaveolum)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/yellow-winged-darter},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}