Copper demoiselle damselflies in love

13 August 2013; in Liguria in Italy. I have already written about seeing damselflies then.

Which damselflies? These photos clearly show a male of the Calopteryx genus. There are only four species of that genus in Europe. So, that should be easy. But it turned out to be not that easy in practice.

Was this a beautiful demoiselle, a species living both in central and southern Europe? The reddish-brownish colour of the body does not fit; maybe a non-representative individual? Or a southern European species: copper demoiselle? The reddish-brownish colour of the body also does not really fit.

Someone who had photographed copper demoiselles before confirmed it was this species indeed, and was so kind to send this photo of these two specimens in love as well. The male at the top of the photograph, the female below.

Here, they have started to make a heart-shaped form together.

And on this (Wikipedia) photo, the heart-shaped form is complete.

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