Cordulegaster bidentata

14. Cordulegaster bidentata (Selys, 1843)

Conservation and breeding status: NT (EU), LC (IT), NT (MED), B?

This endemic European lotic dragonfly was recorded in EXP (4), CPB (11) and CDB (19) study areas. No previous records are known for VGNP and the surrounding areas.

Breeding was not confirmed, although observation of territorial behaviour in CDB at 1200 m makes this a possibility. In Piedmont it was considered localized by Boano et al. (2007), who reported only one record for VCO taken from Capra & Galletti (1978). In the same period only two records were collected in Canton Tessin (De Marmels & Schiess 1978). The large database on which the Italian preliminary Atlas of dragonflies and damselflies is based confirms this conclusion (Riservato et al. 2014c); in Switzerland also, the records for this species are rare in the Alps (Wildermuth et al. 2005). Due to its habitat preference, small rivers, streams, brooks and seepages in wooded and shaded mountainous sites, C. bidentata may easily go undetected. Therefore, its distribution in VGNP could be greater and deserves further targeted research to ascertain distribution and confirm reproduction.

Four individuals of Cordulegaster spp. could not be caught and identified, of which, two were mating, thus one of the two species of Cordulegaster is certainly breeding in VGNP.