Crocothemis erythraea (Brullé, 1832)

Pompilio, Lucia & Mosini, Andrea, 2021, The Odonate fauna of Val Grande National Park (Insecta: Odonata), Fragmenta entomologica 53 (1), pp. 25-42 : 35

21. Crocothemis erythraea (Brullé, 1832)

Conservation and breeding status: LC (EU), LC (IT), LC (MED), B?

This afro-mediterranean lentic dragonfly was recorded in EXP (6) and PDS (15); in the latter, reproduction was considered likely in a pond at around 1000 m. Two historic records were reported for the municipality of Villette in Vigezzo valley, which lies near Pian dei Sali, by De Carlini (1892) and Bentivoglio (1908a, in Capra & Galletti 1978), but they were considered doubtful by Boano et al. 2007. The Atlas of Piedmont reported C. erythraea as widespread and abundant in the plains and hills of Piedmont below 600 m and its population trend was reported as increasing. As for other species, further surveys confirmed a wider distribution in the Alps ( Clemente et al. 2011; Riservato et al. 2014c), although most populations reproduce below 500 m and records as high as 2000 m refer to dispersing individuals ( Bionda et al. 2013; Pettavino 2015; Siesa 2017). In Switzerland its distribution is limited to low elevations also and the species is absent from Alpine highlands ( Wildermuth et al. 2005).

Due to their quick response to global warming, dragonflies are good indicators of climate change ( McNeely 2010); thus, increasing records of this thermophilic species at high altitudes in the Alps could really be linked to a genuine expansion on a 10-15 year time span, rather than to an earlier lack of relevant data and further surveys are needed to confirm reproduction in PNVG and surrounding areas. Indeed, C. erythraea expansion was already well documented north of the Alps 10 years ago (Krokhalo 2010, Ott 2010, Parr 2010) and has been recently confirmed as moderate on a European scale (Termaat et al. 2019).