Small Whiteface (Leucorrhinia dubia)
• English name: Small Whiteface
• German name: Kleine Moosjungfer
• French name: Leucorrhine douteuse
• Dutch name: Venwitsnuitlibel
• Swedish name: Myrtrollslända
• Norwegian name: Liten torvlibelle
• Finnish name: Pikkulampikorento
• Danish name: Lille kærguldsmed
• Italian name: Frontebianca comune
• Czech name: vážka čárkovaná
• Slovenian name: Barjanski spreletavec
• Bulgarian name: Рилско графитче
Small Whiteface
(Leucorrhinia dubia)
Not present
Present before 1990
Present after 1990
Present before and after 1990
Present after 2015
Map data based on J.-P. Boudot & V. J. Kalkman (eds.),
Atlas of the European Dragonflies and Damselflies
| General | • a small species of central, northern and eastern Europe; rare in the south | |
| Classification | • suborder: Anisoptera (dragonflies); family: Libellulidae | |
| Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Least Concern | |
| Scientific name | • Leucorrhinia dubia (Vander Linden, 1825) | |
| Name genus | • Leucorrhinia: feminine form of an artificial adjective derived from Grk. λευκός = white +; ῥίς; ῥινός = nose | |
| Name species | • dubia: from Lat. dubius, -a, -um = doubtful, uncertain ⇒ in reference to Vander Linden's doubt whether or not this species was the same as Linnaeus' L. rubicunda | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| Habitat | • bogs, ponds and lakes | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 31-36 mm; hindwing: 21-27 mm | |
| Notes | • libellulids are 'sitters': males spend a lot of time perched at the water's edge, waiting for females | |
| ➤ smaller and more slender than the similar L. rubicunda | ||
| Both sexes | Head | ➤ the face is white |
| • the eyes are brown | ||
| Abdomen | ➤ the appendages are black | |
| Wings | • the wings bear a small dark patch at the base | |
| ➤ the costa is dark from the base to the node and yellow from the node to the wing tip | ||
| Male | Thorax | • the thorax is brown with a red antehumeral stripe and red spots on the side (in immature males: yellow antehumeral stripe and spots) |
| Abdomen | • the slender abdomen is black with small red spots on S1-S7 (in immature males: yellow spots) | |
| Female | Thorax | • the thorax is brown with a yellow antehumeral stripe and yellow spots on the side |
| Abdomen | • the slender abdomen is black with small yellow spots on S1-S7 | |
| Photographs | • most of our photos below were made in Sweden and Finland |
LineDrawing: the male's abdomen and the female's abdomen in dorsal view.
