The broad-bodied chaser (Libellula depressa) looks very robust due to its distinctly broad, flattened abdomen. In adulthood it measures about 39 to 48 mm in length, and its wingspan about 7 cm.
Adult males have an entirely pale blue abdomen, only the last (10th) segment is bluish-black; the abdomen of young males is orange-brown. On the edge of the middle abdominal segments (from 3 to 8) there are narrow semicircular yellow spots, which become blue with age. For the broad-bodied chaser there are also two broad (antehumeral) stripes on the dorsal side of the front part of the thorax, which are pale blue in the male, and pale gray in the female. For both sexes there is a pronounced dark brown to black mark at the base of all four wings and dark brown eyes.
Adult female has, in comparison with the male, an even wider brown abdomen. Also the yellow spots on the edge of the abdomen are wider in the female than in the male.
The broad-bodied chaser is an extremely hardy and adaptable species, typical of shallow bogs and pools, i.e., for more or less unvegetated water bodies that in summer become strongly heated, and in winter completely freeze. It also does well in other small standing waters and also in regulated streams.
We will be able to observe the first adults already in late April; in greatest numbers they appear in May and June, and then fly roughly until mid-September. In particular the males are very conspicuous, as they perch on an exposed spot from which they relentlessly spring at intruders and in this way usually dominate the whole pool from which they emerged.
