Finding dragonflies and damselflies in Spain

Dragonflies have huge eyes

Dragonflies and damselflies in Spain are extremely beautiful insects which capture the very essence of summer as they perform their intricate aerobatics around the gleaming backdrop of rivers and pools on hot sunny days. They are reasonably easy to observe and are also important indicators of the health of our wetlands, being top insect predators both as airborne adults & aquatic larvae. Heres a few lists and places for finding dragonflies and damselflies in Spain

For those with an interest in observing and photographing these insect jewels, August is definately the best month. Many people avoid Spain during the peak of summer due to the intense heat (which may be hovering around the high 30’s and low 40’s) so, you’ll have the countryside pretty much to yourself. The scent of hot pine resin, gum cistus and the baked appearance of the area is quite different from the spring wild flower season just a few months earlier and is an experience in itself.

During a few days visit in August you should expect to see around 15 species of Dragonfly and Damselfly and in some cases you may even be rewarded with upwards of 10 species in just a single location including emperors and goldenrings along with damselflies such as the beautifull copper demoiselle and Iberian blue tails…

Read more

Spanish wolf spider – Lycosa hispanica – Araña lobo

European wolf spider - Lycosa tarantula - Araña lobo - Next to burrow

Originally known as a tarantula (Theraphosidae family), the Spanish wolf spider – Lycosa hispanica – Araña lobo is in fact a member of the wolf spider family, the Lycosidae. It is the largest spider to be found in Spain.

Read more

trapdoor spiders – Amblyocarenum walckenaeri and Ummidia picea

Amblyocarenum walckenaeri

Some trapdoor spiders in Spain (Araña trampera) are often mistaken for the Andalucian funnel web spider. Firstly though, the wafer trapdoor spider – Amblyocarenum walckenaeri (and the similar Ummidia picea) can be easily differentiated from the Andalucian funnel web spider by the lack of spinerets (or very short spinerets) and a rather rounded and brownish … Read more

Andalusian Funnel-Web Spider – Macrothele calpeiana – La araña negra de los alcornocales

Andalusian funnel web spider (Macrothele calpeiana)

In Andalucia there is a fairly large, black burrowing spider belonging to the venomous funnel-web tarantula family. Its scientific name is Macrothele calpeiana and it belongs to the Macrothelidae family, and most species occur in Asia, from India to Japan, and Java, with four found in Africa, and two in Europe There is one species … Read more