Crocothemis

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Cladus: Odonatoptera
Cladus: Holodonata
Ordo: Odonata
Subordo: Epiprocta
Infraordo: Anisoptera
Superfamilia: Libelluloidea

Familia: Libellulidae
Subfamilia: Sympetrinae
Genus: Crocothemis
Species: C. brevistigma – C. corocea – C. divisa – C. erythraea – C. misrai – C. nigrifrons – C. sanguinolenta – C. saxicolor – C. servilia – C. striata
Name
Crocothemis Brauer, 1868

Crocothemis is a genus of dragonflies in the Libellulidae family,[2] subfamily Sympetrinae (darters). Various species of this genus occur in southern Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Southwest Pacific. They are generally small to medium-sized dragonflies.

These dragonflies are often noticed due to their colours. Males are generally very brightly coloured, ranging from totally red in several species, to the rich blue of Australia's C. nigrifrons. As with many Libellulid species, the females tend to be dull brown or orange.

Like most libellulids they tend to perch on sticks, reeds or stones near water, flying out to catch insects then returning to their perch.
Species

The genus contains the following species:[3]

Male	Female	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
		Crocothemis brevistigma Pinhey, 1961	Spotted Scarlet	Ikelenge, Mwinilunga, Zambia
		Crocothemis corocea Navás, 1918
		Crocothemis divisa Karsch, 1898	divisa scarlet, slender scarlet, slender scarlet-darter[4]	tropical Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar
		Crocothemis erythraea (Brullé, 1832)	scarlet darter,[5] broad scarlet[6]	southern Europe and throughout Africa, western Asia as far as southern China
		Crocothemis nigrifrons (Kirby, 1894)	black-headed skimmer[7]	Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.
		Crocothemis sanguinolenta (Burmeister, 1839)	little scarlet, slim scarlet-darter, small scarlet[8]	Africa south of the Sahara (including Madagascar), in the Levant, and in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
		Crocothemis saxicolor Ris, 1921	granite scarlet[9]	Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, possibly Liberia, and possibly Sierra Leone.
		Crocothemis servilia (Drury, 1773)	scarlet skimmer,[10] oriental scarlet[11]	east and southeast Asia
		Crocothemis striata Lohmann, 1981	Black-legged Scarlet	Madagascar

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References

Brauer, Friedrich (1868). "Verzeichniss der bis jetzt bekannten Neuropteren im Sinne Linné's. Erster Abschnitt". Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien (in German). 18: 359–416 [367] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
"Genus Crocothemis Brauer, 1868". Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study. 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
Martin Schorr; Martin Lindeboom; Dennis Paulson. "World Odonata List". University of Puget Sound. Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 11 Oct 2010.
Clausnitzer, V.; Suhling, F.; Dijkstra, K.-D.B. (2016). "Crocothemis divisa". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T59858A84817145. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T59858A84817145.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
"Checklist of UK Species". British Dragonfly Society. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
"Checklist, English common names". DragonflyPix.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
Günther Theischinger; John Hawking (2006). The complete field guide to dragonflies of Australia. CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 0-643-09073-8.
Boudot, J.-P.; Clausnitzer, V.; Schneider, W.; Suhling, F.; Dijkstra, K.-D.B.; Samraoui, B. (2016). "Crocothemis sanguinolenta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T59860A84816724. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T59860A84816724.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
Clausnitzer, V.; Suhling, F.; Dijkstra, K.-D.B. (2010). "Crocothemis saxicolor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T59861A12104120. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T59861A12104120.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
Dunkle, Sidney W. (2000). Dragonflies through binoculars. OUP USA. ISBN 0-19-511268-7.
Dow, R.A. (2017). "Crocothemis servilia". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T163607A80679957. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T163607A80679957.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.