Anax parthenope
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Anax parthenope, the lesser emperor, is a dragonfly of the family Aeshnidae. It is found in Southern Europe, North Africa, West Asia. It is a crepuscular dragonfly, active in the dusk. This species can be easily distinguished by the multicolored upper surface of frons and by the shape and relative lengths of the anal appendages. Its labium and labrum are golden-yellow and face and frons are greenish yellow and eyes are green, bluish when aged. Its thorax is pale olivaceous brown with dark brown sutures. Its segment two of the abdomen is turquoise blue. Segment three has a large blue patch at each side. Segments 4 to 9 have an irregular black middorsal stripe. Segment 10 is black.
A. parthenope is smaller and less colourful than Anax imperator. In general appearance, especially when seen on the wing, A. parthenope is similar to A. imperator, but A. parthenope tends to hold its abdomen straighter than A. imperator. A large dragonfly seen in flight with a bent abdomen is most likely to be A. imperator rather than A. parthenope. A. parthenope has a blue saddle at S2 and S3 which can be seen in flight, which is in contrast to the rest... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Emperor sighting in Camargue on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 75 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and September
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Emperor in Camargue on a given day, against under 5% in July and November–April, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lesser Emperor sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Camargue, in our data
Camargue is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Lesser Emperor sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Odonata
The closest relatives of the Lesser Emperor that you can see in Camargue (order Odonata, Dragonflies and Damselflies) are Broad Scarlet (about 40%), Black-Tailed Skimmer (about 30%) and Blue-Tailed Damselfly (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lesser Emperor is recorded against all the insects logged in Camargue (18 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
