common hawker

{{Short description|Species of dragonfly}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = Common hawker

| image = Aeshna juncea LC0175.jpg

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Boudot, J.-P. |date=2017 |title=Aeshna juncea |volume=2017 |page=e.T165518A65835376 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T165518A65835376.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}

| taxon = Aeshna juncea

| authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)

| synonyms = Aeshna rustica Zetterstedt, 1840
Aeshna undulata Bartenev, 1930
Libellula juncea L. 1758

| range_map = Distribution of Aeshna juncea.png

| range_map_caption = Range of Aeshna juncea

}}

The common hawker,{{cite web|title=Common Hawker|url=http://www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/common-hawker|publisher=British Dragonfly Society|access-date=11 June 2011}} moorland hawker or sedge darner (Aeshna juncea) is one of the larger species of hawker dragonflies. It is native to Palearctic (from Ireland to Japan) and northern North America. The flight period is from June to early October.

It is {{convert|74|mm}} long with a brown body. The male has a black abdomen with paired blue and yellow spots on each abdominal segment, and narrow stripes along the dorsal surface of the thorax. In the female, the abdomen is brown with yellow or sometimes green or blue spots. The wings of both sexes display a yellow costa (the major vein running along the leading edge of the wings). This species lacks the green thorax stripes of the southern hawker.

Female common hawkers will sometimes dive out of the sky and feign death in order to avoid copulating with males.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2129185-female-dragonflies-fake-sudden-death-to-avoid-male-advances/|title=Female dragonflies fake sudden death to avoid male advances|work=New Scientist|access-date=2017-09-03|language=en-US}}{{Cite journal|last=Khelifa|first=Rassim|date=2017-06-01|title=Faking death to avoid male coercion: extreme sexual conflict resolution in a dragonfly|journal=Ecology|language=en|volume=98|issue=6|pages=1724–1726|doi=10.1002/ecy.1781|pmid=28436995|bibcode=2017Ecol...98.1724K |s2cid=42601970 |issn=1939-9170}}

File:Aeshna juncea hovering.jpg