Cherry dragonfly (Aeshna affinis) prefers warm habitats, but adults are more often seen flying over meadows than over the water surface. The adult creature is usually 57 to 66 mm long, and its wingspan measures about 8 cm.
The male Cherry dragonfly has pale blue eyes. Its abdomen is also pale blue with a black pattern. Compared with males of similar species, the Cherry dragonfly has larger blue spots on the dorsum. If we view its green thorax from the side, we notice that it is pale green, and from its top a blue color spreads toward the abdomen.
The female Cherry dragonfly has a brown dorsum with light green transverse spots or stripes. If we view its thorax and abdomen from the side, light green color predominates. The female's copulatory appendages are relatively short, and the pterostigma is relatively long.
Cherry dragonfly is also the only species of this genus in our region that lays eggs in pairs – in tandem.
The Cherry dragonfly is a species that, in warm summers, also likes to travel longer distances. For life it prefers ephemeral lakes, as its larval development is relatively rapid. It overwinters as an egg, then the larva grows sufficiently by early summer to metamorphose into an adult, sexually mature animal.
Adults appear from May to August, more commonly in the warmer summer months.
For the male it is characteristic to perch at the chest height of an adult human and defend a small territory it has chosen as its own. It often also rests on a branch of a shrub, and then we will hardly disturb it.
The Cherry dragonfly is listed in Slovenia among the threatened dragonfly species. It is recognized as a vulnerable species (V).
