The endangered Alpine Emerald Dragonfly is the “Dragonfly of the Year 2023”. The species is one of the “losers of climate change,” said the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) on Thursday. In Germany, the insect only occurs at altitudes over 750 meters – in the Harz, Thuringian Forest, Erzgebirge, Fichtelgebirge, Bavarian Forest, Black Forest and in the Bavarian Alps. The dragonflies (Somatochlora alpestris) lived in the low mountain ranges almost exclusively in intermediate and raised bogs, in the higher altitudes of the Alps also in larger bodies of water such as ponds and small lakes. The animals are having a hard time with global warming because, among other things, the habitats of the larvae are drying out.
The award is given by BUND and the Society of German-speaking Odonatologists (Libellenforscher/GdO). In 2022, the focus was on the Lesser Pitch Damsel.
