Odonata
There’s a Keeled Skimmer Dragonfly, Orthetrum coerulescens, above this tiny stream in Rome. It’s a female and has the distinctive black line along its back, which is why it’s called Keeled.
![Keeled Skimmer Dragonfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Dragonfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-3-725x484.jpg)
There are two groups of related insects, the dragonflies and the damselflies. Dragonflies are usually larger, with their eyes together and their wings up or out at rest.
We wait a moment and the dragonfly is joined by a damselfly, a Copper Demoiselle, Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis.
![Damselfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Damselfly-The-Hall-of-Einar--725x484.jpg)
Damselflies are usually smaller with their eyes apart and their wings line-up along their body at rest.
I thank both of them for the demonstration as they wing away.