Common hawker

The common hawker,^[2] moorland hawker^[1] or sedge darner^[1] (Aeshna juncea) is one of the larger species of hawker dragonflies. It is native to Palearctic (from Ireland to Japan) and northern North America. The flight period is from June to early October.

Common hawker
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Infraorder:	Anisoptera
Family:	Aeshnidae
Genus:	Aeshna
Species:	A. juncea
Binomial name
Aeshna juncea (Linnaeus, 1758)
Range of Aeshna juncea
Synonyms
Aeshna rustica Zetterstedt, 1840 Aeshna undulata Bartenev, 1930 Libellula juncea L. 1758

It is 74 millimetres (2.9 in) long with a brown body. The male has a black abdomen with paired blue and yellow spots on each abdominal segment, and narrow stripes along the dorsal surface of the thorax. In the female, the abdomen is brown with yellow or sometimes green or blue spots. The wings of both sexes display a yellow costa (the major vein running along the leading edge of the wings). This species lacks the green thorax stripes of the southern hawker.

Female common hawkers will sometimes dive out of the sky and feign death in order to avoid copulating with males.^[3][4]

Male hovering